Mismatched Arguments

I hate it when arguments are mismatched because then you can never get to a correct answer.

So I was naturally pretty angry when I was stuck behind a van in traffic today that had a bumper sticker that read:

"It's not a choice, It's a life."

I don't think that's a fair statement to make, because it assumes your opponents don't think of fetuses as being alive. I know, statistically, some people must think that fetuses aren't alive, but the fact is, they are. They are alive in that they exist with the potential for life. Until they reach age six months, however, it would be physically impossible if not incredibly difficult for them to be kept alive outside of the womb. I think the majority of pro-choice people, like me, would not ever try to argue that fetuses aren't alive, and therefore, this van's bumper sticker made me very upset.

But they had another bumper sticker, a much more mundane and funny one about golfing, so I began to cool down and think about what I would say to this person, viewing them as a human being instead of one part of a whole, a whole group of people who see everything as black and white and stick to their morals even when their morals are impractical.

It may well be impossible to change the driver's mind about how she felt about abortions. But I wondered, if perhaps, I could change the way she chose to think about the issue. A lot of politics, a lot of social commentary, a lot of communication, is damned by illogical statements, illogical frameworks of discussion, and illogical ideas. I don't think we will ever reach a point in time where all humans can agree with one another, but I wonder if perhaps it would be easier for many of us to understand the other sides of arguments and to compromise on our positions, if we were freed from logical fallacies.

So I decided I should get a bumper sticker that reads:

"I know It's a Life, but It's still my choice."