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Spite Fallacy Examples

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The appeal to spite fallacy is a fallacy where spite is used as evidence when an argument is made against a claim (Labossiere, 2012). This is a fallacy because the actual feelings and emotions for spite do not serve as sufficient evidence for a claim (Labossiere, 2012). The appeal to spite takes on the following form: a claim is presented with the intent of generating spite, therefore that claim is or is not false (Labossiere, 2012). This is commonly seen in politics, and many examples of it can be found in the most recent United States election. Why is this used so often in elections? Often, candidates begin to attack one another to try to convince potential voters to vote for them. When they attack each other, they become spiteful and use that spite as their evidence of why you should or should not vote for the other person. Though this is not a solid piece of evidence of why you should or should not vote for someone, it seems to be working and changing people’s opinions on who to vote for. …show more content…

Bought and paid for by Crooked H...." (Quarshie, 2017). Here Trump is being spiteful when he called Hillary Clinton “Crooked H” (Quarshie, 2017). During the final presidential debate, Clinton was asked a question about how she would raise taxes on the wealthy to adjust debt and entitlements (Diaz, 2016). While she was answering the question, Trump called Clinton “such a nasty woman” (Diaz, 2016). Though Clinton does not seem to use spite as much as Trump, it was found that in a radio interview with New York Power 105.1 that Clinton referred to Trump as the “Donkey of the Decade” (Mccaskill, 2016). Though this doesn’t seem nearly as dramatic as the names that Trump had called Clinton, Clinton is still being spiteful just as Trump

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