Fat Lazy Dragons
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One thing leads to another
Slipping on a yellow banana peel may or may not kill you.
Too much, or too little detail
Just because a flower is yellow doesn't make it a Buttercup.
The camel getting into the tent with Trudy is a metaphor for the Slippery Slope fallacy
There is more than one kind of desert mixed together in the Mirage Desert.
Is it reasonable to raise sheep in any kind of desert?
Conversation with Sheik Non
Trudy asked, "I understand that Slope, the Yellow dragon, is the ruler of the desert. Why is that?
Sheik Non shook his head. "Now, we really do not need to talk about that. You might convince me it is not right, and then I would try to do something about it, and of course he is a dragon, so I would lose, and then what would happen to my son, Josh? It would be terrible. It would better if we just did not start that kind of talk." With that he bowed his little polite bow and went his way. Combination of Slippery Slope (Yellow) and Appeal to Fear (Blue)
Battle with Slope, the Yellow Dragon
Slope dipped his head slightly as if to bow. "Thank you for meeting with me."
"We are not here to make friends," chattered High.
Pass chirped, "High, mind your manners."
Slope continued as if High had not spoken. "I have heard that some dragons to the east have had a bit of trouble with you. I just want you to know that will not be necessary here. You are free to travel through or stop and visit, as you like. Stay here as my guests, if you please."
"High asked sarcastically, "Did you have a nice lamb for breakfast?" [Loaded Question (Red)]
Slope nodded. "Yes, very tasty. Thank you for asking. Enjoyed my swim afterwards as well."
Lug nudged Jay.
Jay spoke up, "We want to know why you have enslaved the people of the Mirage Desert and make them feed you lambs from their flocks. It is not fair." [Loaded Question (Red)]
Slope chuckled. "Of course, it would be unfair to enslave people, but I'm afraid you have been misinformed, my young sir. The people of the desert are free to come and go as they have always been. Did you see any dragon soldiers with the caravan of Sheik Nun yesterday?" [Absence of guards and freedom to travel are good evidence people are not enslaved, but he it is really too little detail to be a good argument. (Yellow Flower)]
Jay said, "If you are not these people's ruler, why do you need a snake to spy on them?' [Spying on your own people is good evidence of enslavement, but at this point it is a loaded question (Red)]
Slope shook his head. "I never said, I was not their ruler. I said they were not slaves. It is two different things. It is like apples and oranges. They are both fruit, but they are very different things. As their ruler I carry a heavy responsibility of watching after the welfare of my people, and seeing to it that they are not harmed, and do not harm themselves. In order to do that, I naturally need a lot of information about what is going on. Surely you can see that. Slippery keeps me informed of everything I need to know to carry out my duties." [Changing the subject (Blue). Spying is necessary for governments, but not on their own people. Slope ignored this last part and Jay let him get away with it.]
Trudy asked, "What is the difference between a ruler and a slave master?" [Trudy senses their might be an Equivocation (Brown) and asks an appropriate clarifying question.]
Slope answered, "Let me explain using the sand of the desert. Imagine if I took a grain of sand and set it before you. Then I added another grain of sand, and another, and another. Eventually it would become a sand dune. If I kept it up long enough it would become a whole desert of sand. Just because all three are just sand added to sand, does not mean they are all the same things. Surely you can see that two grains of sand, a sand dune and a desert are three different things. And yet, at what point to they become different? A thousand grains of sand? A million? A billion? Yes, a benevolent ruler and a slave master have certain things in common, like a sand dune and a desert, but that does not keep them from being quite different things." [In this very clever change of subject (Blue) the dragon tries to make it look like the dragon slayers are committing the False Dilemma fallacy (White Light) by describing the Continuum fallacy. (White Snowflake)]
Trudy looked puzzled. "Gee. That sounds true."
Jay said, "Yes, it is a pretty good example that shows that a ruler and a slave master could be two different things, but it doesn't answer the question about which one Slope is - slave master or ruler." [Jay sees through it and gets them back on topic.]
Slope's belly growled deep within him. He chuckled and said, "Mr. Jay is correct, of course, but I have already offered evidence of my kindness in the freedom that Sheik Nan enjoys, as well as the other tribes of the desert. The Sheik takes his tribe and his flocks wherever he likes. I do not send dragon soldiers to make him do anything. He manages it all the way he sees fit. Does that really sound like a slave master?" [Slope correctly repeats his previous unanswered good evidence.]
High chattered. "He is lying. First he called him Sheik Nun and then Sheik Nan. His name is Sheik Non." [Nit picking Distraction (Blue)]
Slope looked at High. "The monkey has an ear for details, but isn't there a difference between lying on purpose and simply saying the wrong thing by accident? I freely admit, I do not remember people's names very well sometimes. But does that really make me a liar?" [Slope uses the opportunity to distract them further, but this response is logically valid.]
Jay agreed, "No of course it does not. But I wonder how much freedom the Sheiks have when each of them has a talking camel, a gift from you, spying on them." [At last Jay counters Slope's good evidence with better evidence.]
Slope answered, "Would you really look a gift camel in the mouth? You have no reason to believe they are my spies. Lug is the only one who has talked to one, and it was a friendly conversation." [Slope's request for a better foundation for Jay's evidence would be legitimate, if he did not already know that Jay was right. He is just plain lying. (Black)]
Jay asked, "How do you know that?" [Jay sees it as opportunity to show that Slippery's spying is illegitimate, but Slope has a good answer.]
Slope replied, "Slippery keeps me informed of everything I need to know to carry out my duties. I have heard what you did to the east. Naturally in order to properly watch over my people, I spied on you." [i.e. Real enemies are legitimate targets for spying.]
High asked, "If you are a kind and benevolent ruler, why don't you know the names of the leader's of the tribes?" [This a legitimate questions, but with the word "kind" it is an amphibole. (Brown)]
Slope looked at High. "What does kindness have to do with remembering people's names? If I ordered them about all the time like a slave master, I would certainly need to know their names. But since they are free to do as they please, there is no need to remember their names." [Slope uses Trudy's amphibole as an opportunity to make a new argument that not knowing their names is evidence of him not being their slave master, instead of the other way around, but Trudy turns Slope's ploy against him.]
Trudy spoke up again. "And what has kindness to do with the difference between slave master and ruler? Also, you can order people about without knowing their names. You can call them 'hey you,' or have Captain Cud here," she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, "give them their orders. The difference between a slave master and a good ruler depends on whether these people gave you permission to be their ruler, not how kind you are, or whether they are free to travel. If you consulted with the tribal sheiks often, you would know their names. I think you probably just do as you please." [Here Trudy is pointing out just weaknesses in Slope's argument, not logical fallacies.]
Slope's stomach growled louder. Jay noticed out of the corner of his eye that several of the soldiers were holding onto their stomachs as if they were in pain.
Before Slope could speak again, Jay added, "When I spoke to Sheik Non the other day, it was clear he was so afraid of what you might do to him, that he would not even talk to me. That sounds like a slave to me." [Good evidence.]
Slope's stomach growled again and two of the dragon soldiers sat down.
Slope said, "You are not looking at the big picture. I protect these people from other dragons. If I were not here, soon the other Fay Lacy dragons would be here ruling over these people. They are not as kind as I am. Things would soon be much worse. [Up until now Slope had been making mostly good arguments, but since he actually does enslave the people, the evidence eventually turns against him and he begins to resort to his lies. This is a slippery slope fallacy (Yellow Banana)]
Trudy replied, "There are very few other dragons left, and I doubt they would want this desert." [Trudy points out a weakness in the slope. It is not certain what will happen. It only might happen.]
Slope responded, "You do not know that for sure. Besides, my dragon soldiers protect the oases from attacks from bands of outlaws. Without them soon the whole desert would be in chaos and war." [Slope ignores the implications of her reply (Blue) and commits another Slippery Slope. (Yellow Bannana)]
Trudy shook her head. "None of these people have mentioned any bands of outlaws. Sunflower here, and his two sisters, is the only outlaw band I know about, and he is not going to attack anyone. Besides there were no dragon soldiers at Oasis Tin and nobody attacked it." [This time Trudy points out two sticking points on the slippery slope that could stop the downward slide that Slope would have his listeners believe is inevitable.]
Slope replied, "You could not possibly know how many bands of outlaws there are. Without me, the rule of law would collapse, the slightest insult would become a fight, which would lead to feuding between the tribes, and finally general civil war. There would be a whole lot more lambs killed then, I assure you. I use my authority for the good of these people, or soon there would be no authority at all." [Again Slope ignores the implications of her first argument and ignores her second argument altogether. (Blue) Then he constructs the longest slippery slope of all (Yellow Banana) which ends with slaughtered lambs at the bottom for a bonus Appeal to Pity fallacy. (Blue) He closes with a short slippery slope (Yellow Banana) about his authority.]
Again Trudy shook her head, "These people are too polite to have feuds, I think. And even if I am wrong about that, they seem smart enough to make and keep their own laws, without any help from you at all. Besides, it does not matter if I am right about what the other dragons might do, or the number of out laws there are, or whether these folks would have a civil war. What matters is, that I might be right. It shows that you are wrong about those things leading one to another automatically for sure and for certain. The other dragons might come here, or they might not. There might be bands of outlaws, or there might not. These people might be able to rule themselves, or they might not. The point is, that you have no right to make these decisions for them." [Trudy summarizes most of Slope's fallacies, and the uncomfortable politeness he has been pretending to have begins to slip. (Pun intended)]
Another loud growl came from Slope's stomach and all the dragon soldiers sat down holding their middles, except for Captain Cud.
Slope said defiantly, "I take good care of my people!" [This might be true, but it certainly reveals Slope has been telling many lies up to this point.]
Lug spoke up for the first time, "You take good care of your property. What does that prove?" [Lug and Jay both point out his slip.]
Jay added, "Yes, it sounds like to me you think you own these people. Are you saying that because you take good care of your property, it is not your property? That makes no sense. They did not ask you to rule over them, did they?"