Oversimplification

One rhetorical fallacy is oversimplification. This occurs when an author tries to simplify a complex issue. The author overgeneralizes the situation by leaving out vital information that can make the statement false. For example, saying that eating carrots are healthy. Therefore, everyone should eat carrots. However, this leaves out the problem that some people might be allergic to carrots and cannot eat them. In addition, not all forms of carrots are healthy. For example a person could put carrots in carrot cake and say that it is healthy because it has carrots in it when in fact it is still unhealthy. This fallacy can be seen in many writing genres. It can also appear in everyday speech when people overgeneralize things by saying everyone does this. Even the common phrase everyone is doing it is an example of oversimplification. It is easy to be tricked by such a comment, especially when it is expertly integrated into a person’s writing. However, many times it can make the issue seem more confusing than it would if the issue was explained in detail. One example of a person using oversimplification is Matt Walsh. In his article, “Isn’t it Mean and Hateful to deport illegal immigrants?” he attempts to simplify the issue and make it seem simpler than it actually seems. However, I became confused in many parts of his article. Some parts I did not understand the logic and I was unable to follow the argument. For example his statement “we may be the first nation in the history of humanity that actually has to argue over the basic concept of having and maintaining a border.” This statement seems to make sense because all counties have borders that is simply a fact. However, there are with so many countries in the world and in the history of the world it is not reasonable to presume that none of these countries ever had problems with maintaining borders. There are most likely a couple of other countries dealing with immigration problems as well making it unreasonable to presume what the author is saying. I was almost tricked by the author’s ploy, however, at a closer look it is obvious that what the author is saying simply cannot be true. To recognize this fallacy in the future I will pay closer attention to how the author states their opinion and see if it makes sense.  If the statement is oversimplified then there will be a way to prove it wrong, otherwise it is most likely true. In most causes however, the use of always, never, and only will most likely create an oversimplification fallacy.