Logical Fallacy #16 - Composition and Division

The fallacy of composition arises when one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole (or even of every proper part). For example: "This fragment of metal cannot be fractured with a hammer, therefore the machine of which it is a part cannot be fractured with a hammer." This is clearly fallacious, because many machines can be broken apart, without any of those parts being able to be fractured.

This fallacy is often confused with the fallacy of hasty generalization, in which an unwarranted inference is made from a statement about a sample to a statement about the population from which it is drawn.

The fallacy of composition is the converse of the fallacy of division.

A fallacy of division occurs when one reasons logically that something true for the whole must also be true of all or some of its parts.

An example:
A Boeing 747 can fly unaided across the ocean.
A Boeing 747 has jet engines.
Therefore, one of its jet engines can fly unaided across the ocean.

Happy Loving Day, Everybody

On the 12th of June in 1967 (after a fight that started in 1958), SCOTUS managed to get America's head a little farther out of its ass.

Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967),[1] was a landmark civil rights decision of the United States Supreme Court which invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

The case was brought by Mildred Loving, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, who had been sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other. Their marriage violated the state's anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited marriage between people classified as "white" and people classified as "colored." The Supreme Court's unanimous decision held this prohibition was unconstitutional, overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.

The decision was followed by an increase in interracial marriages in the U.S., and is remembered annually on Loving Day, June 12. It has been the subject of two movies as well as songs. In the 2010s, it again became relevant in the context of the debate about same-sex marriage in the United States.

Near the end of the video, the reporter mentions there were still 16 states with Anti-Miscegenation laws on the books in 1967 - can you  guess which ones?

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the ’wrong kind of person’ for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others, especially if it denies people’s civil rights.”  -– the late Mildred Loving, speaking out for marriage equality on June 12, 2007, the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia announcement.

About The Cantor Thing

Eric Cantor lost his primary against a nobody yesterday - and I imagine you've prob'ly heard all about it already, so I don't need to rehash it.

But there's not a lot of celebrating going on at VA-GOP HQ today, cuz here's the thing most Teabaggers just don't get:

Because of Eric Cantor's position as House Majority Leader, Virginia's 7th District has been the 2nd most powerful Congressional District in all of USAmerica Inc.  Out of 435 voting districts, only John Boehner's (OH-08) has more clout and influence than VA-07.

Guess what happens now?  Almost 600,000 Virginia voters are about to get shuffled to the bottom of the deck.

I think that's not necessarily a bad thing - if power doesn't change hands once in a while, we get some pretty shitty results (kinda like what we've been seeing for the last 20 years or so).  Just keep in mind that in politics, even when you get what you want, you don't always get what you want.

hat tip = Balloon Juice

Today's Eternal Sadness

Just can't get enough.  Here's a list of the shootings (just the ones at schools) since  Sandy Hook in Dec2012:

#	Date	City	State	School Name	School Type
1.	1/08/2013	Fort Myers	FL	Apostolic Revival Center Christian School	K-12
2.	1/10/2013	Taft	CA	Taft Union High School	K-12
3.	1/15/2013	St. Louis	MO	Stevens Institute of Business & Arts	College/University
4.	1/15/2013	Hazard	KY	Hazard Community and Technical College	College/University
5.	1/16/2013	Chicago	IL	Chicago State University	College/University
6.	1/22/2013	Houston	TX	Lone Star College North Harris Campus	College/University
7.	1/31/2013	Atlanta	GA	Price Middle School	K-12
8.	2/1/2013	Atlanta	GA	Morehouse College	College/University
9.	2/7/2013	Fort Pierce	FL	Indian River St. College	College/University
10.	2/13/2013	San Leandro	CA	Hillside Elementary School	K-12
11.	2/27/2013	Atlanta	GA	Henry W. Grady HS	K-12
12.	3/18/2013	Orlando	FL	University of Central Florida	College/University
13.	3/21/2013	Southgate	MI	Davidson Middle School	K-12
14.	4/12/2013	Christianburg	VA	New River Community College	College/University
15.	4/13/2013	Elizabeth City	NC	Elizabeth City State University	College/University
16.	4/15/2013	Grambling	LA	Grambling State University	College/University
17.	4/16/2013	Tuscaloosa	AL	Stillman College	College/University
18.	4/29/2013	Cincinnati	OH	La Salle High School	K-12
19.	6/7/2013	Santa Monica	CA	Santa Monica College	College/University
20.	6/19/2013	W. Palm Beach	FL	Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts	K-12
21.	8/15/2013	Clarksville	TN	Northwest High School	K-12
22.	8/20/2013	Decatur	GA	Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy	K-12
23.	8/22/2013	Memphis	TN	Westside Elementary School	K-12
24.	8/23/2013	Sardis	MS	North Panola High School	K-12
25.	8/30/2013	Winston-Salem	NC	Carver High School	K-12
26.	9/21/2013	Savannah	GA	Savannah State University	College/University
27.	9/28/2013	Gray	ME	New Gloucester High School	K-12
28.	10/4/2013	Pine Hills	FL	Agape Christian Academy	K-12
29.	10/15/2013	Austin	TX	Lanier High School	K-12
30.	10/21/2013	Sparks	NV	Sparks Middle School	K-12
31.	11/1/2013	Algona	IA	Algona High/Middle School	K-12
32.	11/2/2013	Greensboro	NC	North Carolina A&T State University	College/University
33.	11/3/2013	Stone Mountain	GA	Stephenson High School	K-12
34.	11/21/2013	Rapid City	SD	South Dakota School of Mines & Technology	College/University
35.	12/4/2013	Winter Garden	FL	West Orange High School	K-12
36.	12/13/2013	Arapahoe County	CO	Arapahoe High School	K-12
37.	12/19/2013	Fresno	CA	Edison High School	K-12
38.	1/9/2014	Jackson	TN	Liberty Technology Magnet HS	K-12
39.	1/14/2014	Roswell	NM	Berrendo Middle School	K-12
40.	1/15/2014	Lancaster	PA	Martin Luther King Jr. ES	K-12
41.	1/17/2014	Philadelphia	PA	Delaware Valley Charter HS	K-12
42.	1/20/2014	Chester	PA	Widener University	College/University
43.	1/21/2014	West Lafayette	IN	Purdue University	College/University
44.	1/24/2014	Orangeburg	SC	South Carolina State University	College/University
45.	1/28/2014	Nashville	TN	Tennessee State University	College/University
46.	1/28/2014	Grambling	LA	Grambling State University	College/University
47.	1/30/2014	Palm Bay	FL	Eastern Florida State College	College/University
48.	1/31/2014	Phoenix	AZ	Cesar Chavez High School	K-12
49.	1/31/2014	Des Moines	IA	North High School	K-12
50.	2/7/2014	Bend	OR	Bend High School	K-12
51.	2/10/2014	Salisbury	NC	Salisbury High School	K-12
52.	2/11/2014	Lyndhurst	OH	Brush High School	K-12
53.	2/12/2014	Jackson	TN	Union University	College/University
54.	2/20/2014	Raytown	MO	Raytown Success Academy	K-12
55.	3/2/2014	Westminster	MD	McDaniel College	College/University
56.	3/7/2014	Tallulah	LA	Madison High School	K-12
57.	3/8/2014	Oshkosh	WI	University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh	College/University
58.	3/21/2014	Newark	DE	University of Delaware	College/University
59.	3/30/2014	Savannah	GA	Savannah State University	College/University
60.	4/3/2014	Kent	OH	Kent State University	College/University
61.	4/7/2014	Roswell	NM	Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell	College/University
62.	4/11/2014	Detroit	MI	East English Village Preparatory Academy	K-12
63.	4/21/2014	Griffith	IN	St. Mary Catholic School	K-12
64.	4/21/2014	Provo	UT	Provo High School	K-12
65.	4/26/2014	Council Bluffs	IA	Iowa Western Community College	College/University
66.	5/2/2014	Milwaukee	WI	Marquette University	College/University
67.	5/3/2014	Everett	WA	Horizon Elementary School	K-12
68.	5/4/2014	Augusta	GA	Paine College	College/University
69.	5/5/2014	Augusta	GA	Paine College	College/University
70.	5/8/2014	Georgetown	KY	Georgetown College	College/University
71.	5/8/2014	Lawrenceville	GA	Georgia Gwinnett College	College/University
72.	5/21/2014	Milwaukee	WI	Clark Street School	K-12
73.	6/5/2014	Seattle	WA	Seattle Pacific University	College/University
74.	6/10/2014	Troutdale	OR	Reynolds High School	K-12

74.  Seventy-fucking-four.  At schools.  Every 9 or 10 days.

everytown.org