Bernie Sanders exposes billionaires who are buying US government.

[Kuciwalker]

Wiki would seem to indicate otherwise, placing appeal to tradition under the category of red herrings, which it further places under the category of informal fallacies. Regardless, your earlier claim that appeals to tradition are not fallacies is refuted by your later claim that they are.

We aren't conducting formal proofs. Ergo, not a fallacy.

To the degree that Wiki claims appeals to tradition are informal fallacies it is wrong. Any competent Bayesian will find tradition to be informative and will update their priors based on it.

[Kuciwalker]

I wonder what the ad and marketing guys here would think to find their profession has no effect on people.

Which side is arguing that

[Hauldren Collider]

you think Gingrich lost because he was outspent?

QFT

[kentonio]

you think Gingrich lost because he was outspent?

Gingrich should never have been in the race in the first place, but there was a direct correlation between his polling numbers and the times when team Romney spent hugely in different states. It was a textbook example of attack ads working to perfection.

[Kuciwalker]

You mean it was a textbook example of how reminding people that Gingrich is a lunatic is a good way to persuade them not to vote for him?

[Lorizael]

We aren't conducting formal proofs. Ergo, not a fallacy.

No, we're engaged in argument. There are fallacies in both.

To the degree that Wiki claims appeals to tradition are informal fallacies it is wrong. Any competent Bayesian will find tradition to be informative and will update their priors based on it.

Not everyone is a follower of Bayesian logic.

[Hauldren Collider]

It's shameful that only HC understands the importance of free speech.

It's terrifying.

[Kuciwalker]

Not everyone adheres to Bayesian logic.

This sentence is either trivially false or devoid of meaning.

edit: technically, it could be a true claim that some people are just stupid, but you're implicitly claiming to be one of those people so it still doesn't help you

[Elok]

America was supposed to be about freedom and not having to live under the yolk of a ruling class.

But the whole revolution was egged on by our own hardboiled ruling class.

Seriously, do you buy into our dumb propaganda? America was founded by a ruling class of wealthy landowners, who had good educations bought by their wealth and read a ****load of good political writers in their substantial free time while their slaves made them money. The result was that our revolution had some very good ideas behind it, but like many rebellions, it was started and run by an elite group of intelligentsia acting in their own interest.

[Hauldren Collider]

Gingrich should never have been in the race in the first place, but there was a direct correlation between his polling numbers and the times when team Romney spent hugely in different states. It was a textbook example of attack ads working to perfection.

The only reason Gingrich could compete in the first place is that he was financially backed by a mega-billionaire (Sheldon Adelson), which is a clear case of the system becoming more democratic as a result of loose campaign finance laws.

[kentonio]

But the whole revolution was egged on by our own hardboiled ruling class.

Seriously, do you buy into our dumb propaganda? America was founded by a ruling class of wealthy landowners, who had good educations bought by their wealth and read a ****load of good political writers in their substantial free time while their slaves made them money. The result was that our revolution had some very good ideas behind it, but like many rebellions, it was started and run by an elite group of intelligentsia acting in their own interest.

Shh, I was trying to make a point without dragging the whole thing into a ****pit of nationalistic pride. Thanks for ruining it.

[kentonio]

The only reason Gingrich could compete in the first place is that he was financially backed by a mega-billionaire (Sheldon Adelson), which is a clear case of the system becoming more democratic as a result of loose campaign finance laws.

Oh for goodness sake, it's more democratic that an unpopular and seemingly unelectable politician can seriously run for the presidency because a super rich old guy decides to splash the cash? You think that's democracy?

[MrFun]

Billionaires can only "buy" a candidate by persuading voters to elect him.

No, that's not the only way. Another way is through lobbying, which often involves bribery or blackmail.

Of course, the price for each congressperson varies when purchasing him/her.

[Hauldren Collider]

Oh for goodness sake, it's more democratic that an unpopular and seemingly unelectable politician can seriously run for the presidency because a super rich old guy decides to splash the cash? You think that's democracy?

Yes! OBVIOUSLY more viable candidates is more democratic.

[Kuciwalker]

No, that's not the only way. Another way is through lobbying, which often involves bribery or blackmail.

If lobbying 1) often involved blackmail and 2) actually worked, how would you ever know?