Is there a named fallacy of using words which radically downplay or upplay the seriousness of a situation?
You favor lying to people to scam money out of them because it would be inconvenient for your education plans to not be able to scam money out of them? That seems unethical.
Teenagers sometimes get thrown out of their families for coming out. This is more than an inconvenience, and affects more than their educational plans.
Is there a named fallacy of using words which radically downplay or upplay the seriousness of a situation?
If there is a fallacy here, I would say it’s the fallacy of the “loaded question” or the use of “loaded language.” Here, the question presupposes that it’s a “scam” to lie to one’s parents about sexual orientation in order to obtain their financial support for college.
Nominull makes an interesting argument but he ruins it by loading by his use of the word “scam.”
Here’s a charitable interpretation of the point:
You don’t have an entitlement to educational support from your parents and your parents have the right to withhold that support for any reason. So by lying to them about your sexual orientation, you are fraudulently depriving them of their rights; in effect you are scamming your own parents.
I still disagree with this argument but I think it’s a close call. Part of the problem is that in determining financial aid, colleges assume there will support from one’s parents. If you tell the college financial aid office that your parents have cut you off because they disapprove of homosexuality, chances are the college won’t step up and help you. So there is kind of a quasi-right to college support from one’s parents.
The other thing is that the parents probably already know at some level that their child is a homosexual just like fat people already know that they are fat and cheated-on spouses often know that they are being cheated on. So there’s something to be said for allowing the person to continue in their state of denial or at least not reminding them of things they prefer not to know.
And last, there is an idea that it’s wrong to discriminate based on sexual orientation. I’m not sure how strong this argument is in the context of personal and family relations.
Is there a named fallacy of using words which radically downplay or upplay the seriousness of a situation?
Teenagers sometimes get thrown out of their families for coming out. This is more than an inconvenience, and affects more than their educational plans.
If there is a fallacy here, I would say it’s the fallacy of the “loaded question” or the use of “loaded language.” Here, the question presupposes that it’s a “scam” to lie to one’s parents about sexual orientation in order to obtain their financial support for college.
Nominull makes an interesting argument but he ruins it by loading by his use of the word “scam.”
Here’s a charitable interpretation of the point:
You don’t have an entitlement to educational support from your parents and your parents have the right to withhold that support for any reason. So by lying to them about your sexual orientation, you are fraudulently depriving them of their rights; in effect you are scamming your own parents.
I still disagree with this argument but I think it’s a close call. Part of the problem is that in determining financial aid, colleges assume there will support from one’s parents. If you tell the college financial aid office that your parents have cut you off because they disapprove of homosexuality, chances are the college won’t step up and help you. So there is kind of a quasi-right to college support from one’s parents.
The other thing is that the parents probably already know at some level that their child is a homosexual just like fat people already know that they are fat and cheated-on spouses often know that they are being cheated on. So there’s something to be said for allowing the person to continue in their state of denial or at least not reminding them of things they prefer not to know.
And last, there is an idea that it’s wrong to discriminate based on sexual orientation. I’m not sure how strong this argument is in the context of personal and family relations.