176.
Identify any unnecessary and potentially offensive references to gender, race, or other
features in the following passage and, as necessary, rewrite the passage in neutral
language.
Congressmen George Thurlow and Shirley Chisholm first ran for public office during the
same year.
Congressman George Thurlow and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm first ran for public
office during the same year.
177.
Identify any unnecessary and potentially offensive references to gender, race, or other
features in the following passage and, as necessary, rewrite the passage in neutral
language.
General Colin Powell was the first black army officer to have achieved the chairmanship of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
General Colin Powell was the first black army officer to become the chair of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. (This is a bit tricky, of course; you may think the reference to Powell’s
being black is what’s objectionable in the original. But that reference is crucial to the
meaning of the claim; “chairmanship” is neither necessary nor acceptable where “chair”
will do.)
178.
Identify any unnecessary and potentially offensive references to gender, race, or other
features in the following passage and, as necessary, rewrite the passage in neutral
language.
Mrs. Karla Ashcroft won the award for best student in the sciences.
Karla Ashcroft won the award.
179.
Identify any unnecessary and potentially offensive references to gender, race, or other
features in the following passage and, as necessary, rewrite the passage in neutral
language.
Crime report on television (or in the newspaper): “Police are looking for a white man about
thirty years old, with brown hair and brown eyes, and about five feet ten inches tall. He
has tattoos on both forearms—a picture of a snake on the right and the word ‘mother’ on
the left.”
No change necessary; the reference to race is part of the description.
180.
Identify any unnecessary and potentially offensive references to gender, race, or other
features in the following passage and, as necessary, rewrite the passage in neutral
language.
Another crime news item: “Authorities who were investigating the Eastgate Mall burglaries
last night arrested Lewis Thompkins, a black man about twenty-five years old.”
Unless it is a standard practice to identify the races of all people arrested by the
authorities, it is discriminatory to do so for any people arrested. (We’ve heard some pretty
good arguments in favor of the policy of never identifying an arrested person’s race.)
181.
Identify any unnecessary and potentially offensive references to gender, race, or other
features in the following passage and, as necessary, rewrite the passage in neutral
language.
The one hundred most highly paid chief executives in America are paid from one million to
twenty-seven million dollars a year. The men in those jobs cannot possibly be worth that
kind of money.
The people in those jobs
182.
Identify any unnecessary and potentially offensive references to gender, race, or other
features in the following passage and, as necessary, rewrite the passage in neutral
language.
“That’s one small step for a man, and one giant leap for mankind.”—Neil Armstrong, upon
first setting foot on the moon
There. We finally made it.
183.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“A requirement for this course is a term paper on some topic.”—Statement on course
syllabus
Too general/vague.
184.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
CHILD’S STOOL GREAT FOR USE IN GARDEN
—Headline in Buffalo
Courier-Express
Ambiguous.
185.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
LOUISIANA GOVERNOR DEFENDS HIS WIFE, GIFT FROM KOREAN
—Headline in
Milwaukee Journal
Ambiguous.
186.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
Cash customers this line only.
Ambiguous.
187.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“Who won?”—ABC poll question, after a presidential debate
Ambiguous and exceedingly general/vague.
188.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“5 times 3 plus 2”
Ambiguous.
189.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
SLOW
CHILDREN AT PLAY
—An old joke
The signs aren’t really ambiguous.
190.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“Is evolution a fact?”
Too general/vague and ambiguous.
191.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
Place the box next to the refrigerator before you open it.
Ambiguous.
192.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“The enormity of what’s taken place is sinking in now.”—George Bush, just after his
election to the presidency
Clearly, Bush didn’t know what “enormity” means. Have students check their dictionaries.
193.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“The instructor will not inform a student that he or she will be charged with cheating
during an examination.”—Statement on course syllabus
Ambiguous.
194.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“Alcohol is present in about 50 percent of fatal traffic accidents among teenagers.”
“Alcohol is present” is pretty vague for almost any context; so is “about 50 percent,” but in
many contexts it would not be too vague.
195.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“Subdeconstructive capitalism implies that narrative is a product of the masses. In a
sense, the subject is contextualised into a textual libertarianism that includes culture as a
totality.”
We don’t have a clue. We found this in an essay by Jane K.W. de Selby, of the Yale
Department of Semiotics.
196.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“We can’t and we won’t lower the quality of faculty in the California state universities, but
it may be time to redefine what we mean by ‘quality.’”—Former California State University
System Chancellor Barry Munitz
This is almost gobbledygook. What it might be to “redefine” quality is pretty vague; it
197.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“I am a fuzzy bunny lover.“—From a student paper
Ambiguous.
198.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“Life its own self, as Dan Jenkins said. Life its own self. Figure that one out, Norm. But
what it means is, I have a lot more to learn from President Reagan.”—George Bush, when
asked, upon first becoming president, whether his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, was
advising him (quoted in Ross and Petras,
The 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said
)
In other words, “yes.”
199.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“All of you are not thinking.”
Ambiguous.
200.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
He may have trouble with the long putts, but nobody is better at dropping his shorts.
Ambiguous.
201.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“Bruce Sutter has been around for a while and he’s pretty old. He’s thirty five years old.
That will give you some idea of how old he is.”—Ron Fairly, San Francisco Giants
broadcaster (quoted in Ross and Petras,
The 776 Stupidest Things Ever Said
)
We don’t cover it in the text, but although stating the obvious doesn’t necessarily impede
clarity, it can make you look silly.
202.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
MAN IS FATALLY SLAIN—headline sent from Bangs Tapscott
Another instance in which stating the obvious makes you look silly.
203.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
WAR DIMS HOPE FOR PEACE—headline sent from Bangs Tapscott
Another instance of the obvious looking hopelessly silly.
204.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“My position on Vietnam is very simple. And I feel this way. I haven’t spoken on it because
I haven’t felt there was any major contribution that I had to make at the time. I think that
our concepts as a nation and that our actions have not kept pace with the changing
conditions, and therefore our actions are not completely relevant today to the realities of
the magnitude and the complexity of the problems that we face in this conflict.”—New
York governor Nelson Rockefeller, when asked by a reporter about his position on the
Vietnam War
Gobbledygook.
205.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“In terms of arting, where the reference condition is not fixed or even known conceptually
but rather something coming to being, what can we hope through our formative
hermeneutic movement? To make the ‘otherness’ of the arting process more other, more
‘objective’ in a newer sense and less ‘subjective’ in the older sense, so that the arting
process itself speaks more purely?”—Kenneth R. Beittel, Penn State University (quoted in
Edwin Newman,
Strictly Speaking
)
Too general/vague, unnecessarily complicated, and silly.
206.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“To make tea, make water not too hot. Too hot water is not for best flavor.”
—Instructions to an imported tea
Too vague for us.
207.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
The sink did not drain because the trap was clogged.
208.
Criticize the following claim based on the material from Chapter 3 of the text.
“If the lights burn dimly or not at all when you first turn them on, the battery is probably
run down. Test the battery. If it is run down, you should try to find out what caused it.”—
Crouse and Anglin,
The Auto Book
“Burn dimly” probably isn’t too vague for most readers of a car-repair manual.
209.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
Professional sports? Never watch ’em. They’re all fixed.
It’s theoretically possible but very unlikely. Even if the claim were true, how would anybody
go about establishing it? We’d like to hear the proof.
210.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
My liberal colleagues in Congress are all big spenders.
How do you identify “liberals” (or “conservatives,” for that matter)? The class is too
vaguely defined, as is that of “big spenders.” Note: If the speaker defines “liberals” as
those who vote to spend the most money, he has begged the question—he has, possibly
surreptitiously, turned it into an analytic claim.
211.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
The world and everything in it was created fifteen minutes ago, complete with fictitious
memories and false records.
As Bertrand Russell noted, there’s no way to disprove this claim.
212.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
I’m not very photogenic—no photograph anybody has ever taken of me really looks like
me.
“Photogenic” is not a clearly defined notion, but there probably isn’t anything that can be
done about it. We doubt that no photograph resembles the speaker; it’s more likely that he
just doesn’t like the way he looks in the photographs. Maybe he just doesn’t like the way
he looks.
213.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
Bomb threats on abortion clinics were called in by the clinics themselves to gain sympathy
and support from the public and news media.
The general claim would be very difficult to establish, though one might know of a
particular instance in which this event happened.
214.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
Digital recordings may be all the rage these days, but every serious audiophile knows that
a good analog disc played on a music system of high quality is better than even the best
digital version.
“Serious audiophile” isn’t clear—could the speaker mean those people who prefer analog
recordings and hence be begging the question? Some of the other phrases are vague
too—“good analog disc,” “system of high quality”—it may or may not be possible to specify
more clearly what’s intended by such terms.
215.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
The universe and everything in it doubled in size last night.
Unknowable claim—although this is controversial among philosophers.
216.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
Every account that Delwood has worked on has come back with computational errors in it.
We don’t find anything wrong with this one. “Computational errors” could be spelled out
precisely, but the context probably does not require such precision.
217.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
From a letter to the editor: “It appears that the administration’s foreign policy is
increasingly far out.”
What’s being said about the administration’s foreign policy? Who knows?
218.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
“In no previous epoch were adversaries so continuously and totally mobilized for instant
war. It is a statistical certainty that hair-trigger readiness cannot endure as a permanent
condition.”—Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Bernard Lown, cofounder of International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
“Continuously and totally mobilized for instant war” is not too vague; everyone
understands what Lown means. “A statistical certainty” is apt to be less clear to many
listeners. These claims would pass muster in many contexts, however. Note that only the
first one is a general claim.
219.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
Conservative Christians are a politically sophisticated voting bloc.
This may be an expression of praise; then again, it may not. The claim does not make clear
exactly what is being said about conservative Christians. It’s not even totally clear who
220.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
Of the over 100,000 aliens who married U.S. citizens last year, 40 percent did so only to
bypass immigration laws.
We’re skeptical whether such a precise percentage could be known in such a matter.
221.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
“It is prudent to assume that all nations attempt to spy on other nations to the extent that
their capacities and interests dictate.”
—Baltimore Sun
It is known that many nations employ spies, and it is a reasonable inference from what is
known about history and human nature to believe that most do. Further, the assumption is
prudent.
222.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
Every socialist country in the world has been a violator of the fundamental human rights of
individuals.
Both “socialist” and “violator of fundamental human rights” have very fuzzy edges; general
claims like this one require more precision if they’re to be acceptable.
223.
Evaluate the following claim, paying particular attention to problems of clarity. Note that
claims may also present problems of knowability, though we don’t address knowability per
se in this chapter.
“Caution: Cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health.”
Vague, but knowable. And known.