Argument by gibberish

Short description: Logical fallacy

Argument by gibberish is an informal logical fallacy, where incomprehensible or irrelevant gibberish is exchanged for a valid argument or used to support a statement or postulation. It often is employed via a word salad of jargon, giving the appearance of either knowledge of the subject or a genuine argument. It is considered an informal fallacy because it is unconvincing, since no argument is conveyed at all. Yet its confusing nature may give the appearance that an argument has been constructed.[1]

## Contents

* 1 Logical Form
* 2 Occurrences
* 3 Example
* 4 References

## Logical Form

A claims X is true

A supports this assertion via gibberish

Therefore X is true[1]

## Occurrences

The sovereign citizen movement has been accused of arguing with “legalistic gibberish” as opposed to genuine legal argument.[2]

Richard Dawkins, in a debate against Deepak Chopra, stated that he was “Be[ing] subjected to a kind of word salad of scientific jargon, used out of context, inappropriately, apparently uncomprehendingly”.[3]

## Example

From the film Spies Like Us, when Emmett Fitz-Hume (Chevy Chase) answers a question from the press:[1]

> Well, of course, their requests for subsidies was not Paraguayan in and of it is as it were the United States government would never have if the president, our president, had not and as far as I know that's the way it will always be. Is that clear?

When the press is confused by this response, Fitz-Hume moves on without answering the original question.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Argument by Gibberish" (in en). https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Argument-by-Gibberish.
2. ↑ "“LEGALISTIC GIBBERISH”" (in en). 2014-03-13. https://taishofflaw.com/2014/03/13/legalistic-gibberish/.
3. ↑ (in en) Richard Dawkins irritated by irrationality, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKe4fshETQ4, retrieved 2021-03-22

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