Rex Trulove
Although ‘fallacious’ is a common word and many people have heard of it, many people don’t know what it truly means. It is especially worthy of use in today’s negative society and could be used even more than it currently is.
This word has been in use since at least the 1470’s and it comes from the Latin word, “fallere”, which means “to deceive”.
Fallacious means to deceive, to be misleading, or based on false reasoning.
It is difficult to watch or read the news anymore without seeing news stories that are fallacious. People who aren’t aware that the media is being fallacious often fall for this tactic, which ultimately sells the news.
For instance, the media has worked hard to get people to believe that the National Rifle Association is a huge lobbying group that doesn’t care if people get shot and killed, and that doesn’t want people to be educated about guns. All of this is demonstrably fallacious. The NRA is privately funded by citizens who are members, they aren’t a huge lobbying group, they care a great deal about lives, and their original purpose was to teach people about guns and gun safety. They teach many thousands of police, military personnel, and citizens the proper, safe use of firearms every year, so the point the media tries to make is fallacious.
There are so many other examples of fallacious statements and reasoning that it is staggering. People who aren’t aware that the statements are fallacious are often duped into believing them.
Fallacious has the same origin and meaning as ‘fallacy’. However, ‘fallacy’ is normally used as a noun while ‘fallacious’ is used as an adjective.
You always hear about how much money the NRA contributes to politicians and how they are all in the NRA’s pocket. The NRA actually ranks 15th in the amount of money contributed to congressmen and they contribute to both Democrats and Republicans. Their only concern is are they willing to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans.
There is also a lot of misinformation regarding the NRA that the media uses. The NRA itself doesn’t contribute to politicians. It is a small, related group NRA-ILA that does and as you said, the sole concern is with the protection of the constitution. They are also the lobbying group for the NRA. The top lobbying group in terms of political contributions is actually the Chamber of Commerce. Since 1998, they contributed over three more money to political campaigns than the number 2 contributing lobby group, the National Association of Realtors: $1,455 million compared to $498 million. In comparison to the contributions from the NRA-ILA, the NRA-ILA contributed next to nothing. What the NRA does have going for it, though, is a block of well over a million citizens who vote.
Aah. I thought the NRA-ILA was part of the NRA. My bad, and I’m an NRA member. 🙂
No harm there. The distinction between the two is slim and NRA-ILA is merely a separate group that still ‘belongs’ to the NRA. Probably the best way to explain it to people who think that the NRA is evil would be to explain the purpose of each.
The NRA-ILA’s purpose is to take a legal stand in support of the constitution; specifically the second amendment.
The NRA’s purpose is to teach gun safety and marksmanship.
As an NRA member, I suspect that you really knew this but probably didn’t think much about it. I’m glad to hear that you are a member, too. My father actually taught hunter-safety courses when I was a youth and hunter-safety instructors were all trained by and members of the NRA, as are police officers and the military.