Phalluses of Logic: How to Know When Republicans Lie

by Avi Silverman, Selkie Sam (Editor)

A fallacy of logic is an error in reasoning. It is a bad argument. It may appear convincing, but it doesn’t actually prove anything.

A phallus of logic is a total dick who lies for personal or political gain. They use deception to influence your beliefs and choices. If you don’t know what to listen for, they can easily succeed.

There are hundreds of named fallacies but no official list. Different sources will define a given fallacy a little differently. Many fallacies overlap in some way, or are specific types of a broader fallacy. Some go back to the days of Socrates and Aristotle, which is why they have fancy Latin names you can use to sound smart at parties. Others have been identified along the way. Don’t worry about memorizing every fallacy—that’s for weirdos. With each new fallacy you learn about, you will become more fluent at listening skeptically and detecting broken logic. You will probably end up remembering a few fallacies anyway, you big nerd.

Each chapter of this book will showcase a particular fallacy with real life examples. The examples will be related to issues and events including presidential campaigns, LGBTQ rights, police brutality, CIA torture, Planned Parenthood, Trump University, evolution, and more. While this book could have easily been written with an even split between Democrats and Republicans, it wasn’t. Most of the examples involve fallacies committed by conservatives. There will be some liberal arguments critiqued here, and some Republicans will be defended, but the majority of this book will analyze faulty logic from the right-wing. Some of the repeat offenders in this book include Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, Bill O’Reilly, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Ray Comfort.

While there are plenty on both sides using fallacies to support their claims, the GOP has risen to a different level. It is only by ignoring fact, science, and reason that one can support current Republican positions. Claiming that evolution is a lie, climate change is a hoax, and pizza is a vegetable requires a unique brand of fallacious reasoning.

342 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 17, 2016

About the author

Silverman is a Philadelphia based self-published author. He lives with his wife, daughter, cat, and another daughter. His work reflects his interest in politics, logic, and education as well as some nerdy pop culture. When people ask him how many cups of coffee he's had so far in the day, he usually shaves a cup or two off the answer.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silverman is clearly a product of the Stewart-Colbert era, beautifully translating their comedic style to the written page. Through contemporary examples, I feel the book has made me a more critical consumer of information I encounter on a daily basis. The author is unabashedly one-sided in his critiques, targeting conservatives far more frequently than liberals. This is unfortunate since a portion of the population that could benefit equally from the points made will likely not get past the book's subtitle. Regardless of your political stance, however, I encourage you to check this one out. You'll laugh a lot and have better perspective when you're done.

[David Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'll want to read this soon. With any luck, most of the examples used will be seen as irrelevant, obscure political figures sooner rather than later.

Silverman paints a pictures of some of the different types of lies we see in politics every day, with numerous entertaining examples. Unfortunately, these lies extend far beyond politics. This book will help prepare you to spot and process the truths that are being stretched all around you.