Does your mom know you're gay?

            The fallacy that I have fallen for before is one that I was exposed to way back in my playground days. The fallacy I am referring to is that of a complex or “loaded” question.  A loaded question is a question with a false or questionable presupposition, and it is "loaded" with that presumption. Loaded questions are bad things because they are really asking two questions at once. The purpose of a preloaded question is for the author to assume something and trick the reader into believing that one of the questions pre-assumed is already true. One thing that I found online was interesting. It said, “because a question is not an argument, simply asking a loaded question is not a fallacious argument. Rather, loaded questions are typically used to trick someone into implying something they did not intend”.

            The first time I was exposed to a loaded question, I was not aware that it was a loaded question. It was an immature, yet still funny, playground trick that we as kids used to play on each other. The trick would start out with two simple questions. The first question was, “Are you gay?” The person being asked the questions would then answer, “No”. The next question was, “Have you ever been gay?” This, of course, was also followed by a “No”. Both of these questions were simple enough, but then the next question was loaded and it came in for the knockout. The question was, “Does your mom know you’re gay?” At this point, the person being questioned was stuck in a bit of a catch-22 situation. Either way he answered, he would leave his friends giggling. If he answered Yes, he was gay and his mom was aware of it. If he answered No, he was gay but his mom just hadn’t found out yet. I was definitely fooled by this fallacy’s fallaciousness. Although some of the homosexual community may have found this trick to be borderline immature and offensive, it is important to realize that we were all young boys –  both immature and offensive.

            Besides making me laugh when I was younger, it stuck into my brain as a fallacy and it has been an effective tool in my learning process. The problem with the question was that it was implying two questions into one: “Are you gay?” and “If so, is your mom aware of it?” By splitting it into two questions, it eliminates both questions. In my writing, readings, and interactions with others through speeches and conversation, I will have to learn to recognize this type of fallacy and the trap it is able to set.