Blog 2: Believe it or not?

1.) Weight Watchers- makes you lose weight

2.)
Major premise: If you use weight watchers, then you will lose weight.
Minor premise: Mary does not use weight watchers
Conclusion: Mary will not lose weight.

3.)



4.)
It's valid because p --> q and if q is not true, p is not true (valid). It can be argued whether it is true or not. You could use weight watchers and it could work and help you lose weight. Or you could use weight watchers but your weight could be effected by other factors as well (eating healthy, exercising, following the program exactly or not). If you do not use weight watchers, that doesn't necessarily mean you won't lose weight (you can lose weight other ways) or you could not use Weight Watchers and not lose weight because you aren't changing
anything.

5.) If you use weight watchers, you will lose weight

6.)

 

a. It is a tautology and has a solution mathematically. It also makes sense in real life, if you use Weight Watchers, you could lose weight. But you might not lose weight (other factors).

b. Truth tables are useful because you can tell if it's valid or not through a mathematical way of finding out.

7.)

Consider the source: The source of information is pretty clear and has credibility to a certain extent because Weight Watchers is a very popular and trusted program. But, whether or not you lose weight depends on other factors going along with the program (exercise, sleep, how closely one is sticking to the program, etc.). The source does have crediability on the issue though because Weight Watchers is a pretty well-known program.
Check the date: It is still relevant because Weight Watchers is a long on-going program.
Validate accuracy: Looking at other websites, forums, and reviews of the program, people claim that Weight Watchers really does work and there's a large support group. One forum says that "Weight Watchers is one of the most successful weight loss programs of all time".
Hidden agendas: It doesn't seem to have any hidden agendas; it's a company and all companies want to make money but it also seems like they're a reliable company who actually wants to help people lose weight. When the make the statement that you'll lose weight, that's not necessarily true but if you follow the program exactly then you most likely would.
Don't miss the big picture: I think that it doesn't conflict with things that are true. The Weight Watchers plan makes sense and you could lose weight from it. But you can't not lose weight if you don't use weight watchers.

8.)
With the conclusion of Mary will not lose weight (because she doesn't use Weight Watchers), it is a fallacy. It is a fallacy of hasty generalization because you can't generalize that since Weight Watchers claims that you will lose weight and Mary doesn't use Weight Watchers, then she won't lose weight. That's assuming that because the program helps people lose weight, that without the program you can't lose weight.

9.) 

I think that this activity did help me be more critical about media in a different way. Looking at an add in a mathematical way rather then a typical way is a different way to view it. I find media criticism  to be very important because we're fed so much information on a daily basis that we just take it without any criticism, but it's important to not listen and buy into everything that's thrown at you.