Tradition

CONTENTS

Introduction
Sellers' Market
Will to Believe
Rules of Thumb

"The truth is out there "
Use & misuse of words
False information signals more false information
Technical whiz-bang
Understand the Context
Lies, More Lies, Damn Lies and Newspapers
Beware of Generalizations
Theology and scripture
Misleading Statistics
Smoke in your eyes
What is Missing?
Myth versus fact versus narrative
The past was not like the present; the future will be different

Fallacy Recognition in the Middle East

Fallacies and Arguments
Cause and Effect
Slippery Slope
Gambler's Fallacy
Ad Hominem
Authority
Beliefs
Appeal to Novelty
Appeal to Emotion
Appeal to Tradition
False Dilemma or Black and White Thinking
Special Pleading
The Spotlight Fallacy
Who is to Say?

Fallacy Handbook

Tradition
References - Appeal to Belief Appeal to Tradition

Appeal to tradition combined appeal to belief, "all of believe the true religion," with peer pressure, and authority: "The Imam said so," "our honored ancestors said so." "We always did it this way" is a potent argument, especially in pre-industrial societies. In the Middle East, there are appeals associated with some of the most reactionary traditions, especially treatment of women, homosexuals and minorities. "That is the traditional role of women in our society." Attempts to change these traditions are met with resistance: "You are imposing Western ways on our society - cultural imperialism!" Annoyingly (to you) people with customs that are different from yours often insist that they are right.

Tradition is the motive power of fundamentalist creeds in the Middle East, though often the "ancient traditions" were invented quite recently.

Previous: Appeal to Emotion Next: False Dilemma or Black and White Thinking

External Links

This site provides resources about Zionism and Israeli history, including links to source documents. We are not responsible for the information content of these sites. These links are NOT intended to be an exhaustive reference about Zionism, but the list will keep growing...

Please tell us about your favorite links and we will review them for inclusion.

Please be careful to credit the Zionism pages and link to us. Please do copy these links to your Web site, giving credit to Zionism Israel Center

Thank you.

Zionism Definition and Brief History A balanced article that covers the definitions and history of Zionism as well as opposition to Zionism and criticisms by Arabs, Jewish antiZionists.

Labor Zionism History and Critique Contribution of Labor Zionism to the creation of the Jewish state, and problems of Labor Zionism in a changing reality.

Addmorelinkshere

Zen and Understanding Middle East News and Issues

Tradition

External Links