The 'bull's eye' fallacy

If one has taken a logic or debate course, then one has heard of the 'bull's eye' fallacy.  However, every where I go and every one I talk to has to be given a quick lesson to understand it.

This fallacy is promulgated in the media, on Facebook, and of course in politics by all sides.

All fallacies takes advantage of emotion and raw data to direct or sway an opinion.

Imagine a humongous 'old' west style barn.  It has been standing for many years.  Every year a cowboy comes out and fires many shots without aiming at the barn, just to let off some steam.  After a few years he comes out with some paint, looks for an area where there is a tight grouping of many shots and paints a normal size bull's eye around that spot.  When he has friends over, shows them the bull's eye, they are in awe and convinced that the cowboy is an expert marksman.

In our world, raw data is gathered concerning murders, school violence, political agendas, and other biased uses.  Out of all data collected, whoever wishes to bias it, takes only the data that supports their views.

Then they draw a conclusion from just the data they have gathered, and then use that same data to back up their conclusion, making it appears that the data clearly and only supports their view.  They step back and let everyone assume that the facts are speaking for themselves.

So, much like the cowboy gets everyone to ignore the other random shots and focus on the bull's eye.  So, biased persons don't mention all the data that doesn't support their agenda, they allow everyone to believe that all the facts support their conclusion.  In either case no one has lied, they just haven't revealed the truth!

How might I use this fallacy in my own personal life, other than how the cowboy did?  It doesn't take a political mastermind to use this fallacy.  It would be hard to find a commercial that doesn't use at least this fallacy to steer consumers toward their product.

Let me give an example that I have been thinking about recently.  Where we live Walmart competes heavily with Kroger.  Walmart is the same as Walmart everywhere, but Kroger give points for every purchase that takes money off of gas that is purchased at the Kroger gas station.  Myself I have saved 20cents-30cents off of every gallon of gas for one purchase, lowering my price per gallon to $2.69.  When filling up that is considerable savings.  Kroger I am sure, uses this fallacy just as much, but for the sake of this example, I am going to share a Walmart commercial I saw on TV.

Walmart picked items off of their shelves and picked the same items off of Kroger shelves.  They compared the savings on gas at Kroger to the savings on the Walmart items themselves versus Kroger items.  The resulting data was:

Save $2.80 at Kroger on Gas  OR  save $9.00 at Walmart in cash

My first thought is why am I shopping at Kroger then?

Why isn't Kroger up in arms about false advertising?



I only have theory at this point, I didn't not do the footwork to confirm.

Walmart could pick items that they chose to put on special sale at their store to compare normal (without card) prices at Kroger.

Walmart is probably choosing items that supports their conclusion (that their prices are better on everything) out of the millions of items they sale.  Then showing the consumer a full shopping cart of items also leading the consumer that this comparison is on the up and up, and completely random.

Then take a look at the data that Walmart is showing about Kroger:  The gas savings.  Kroger offers from $.10-$1.00 off of each gallon of gas for one purchase.  What it I took my van in to fill up with $1.00 off per gallon?  I would save $15.00 on Gas!  So Walmart chose the items out of millions, chose the car out of millions, chose the amount of Gas out of many different gas tank sizes all to get consumers to come to conclusion that all or most of items at Walmart are cheaper than all of the items at Kroger.

In real life, I have experienced that some items are cheaper at Walmart, some items are cheaper at Kroger, so we buy Groceries at Kroger, and other items we need at Walmart, and save on items we need and gas.

What is another example you can think of or theorize about?  Or perhaps you disagree, please let us discuss this together.

What boxes cannot hold

Boxes are not always as open as this picture portends.  Boxes can hold a lot of things.  I have been digesting all the things that boxes cannot hold.

'Thinking outside of the box'  is a popular anecdote for finding creative solutions to a problem, or to problems that will happen down the road. This box represents the structure of one's day to day life.  This structure provides comfort by the fabrication of the illusion that life will be very much the same tomorrow. In other words, to sum up, thinking outside of the box is at least; thinking from a different perspective, a helpful perspective.

I was raised in a conservative baptist home.  I set my alarm and was awakened every morning hours before school. I made a commitment to myself to read the Bible through, to try to see what life is all about. To examine and process outside of church. I continually ran into a God that was far removed from any of the frail boxes in which I begin to find myself.

As a young adult, I discovered that I was somehow trapped within layers and layers of boxes.  Boxes which defined right and wrong, God's will, how to act, how to live, what to judge, the framework for how to view God.  Every time I went to church (4-5 times a week) the boxes were manufactured and reinforced.  School, home, work, church, were making boxes like it was their industry.  I started to mint my own boxes for many different reasons.  My perspective here is negative, but it bears mentioning that many of these boxes were a necessity to me.

I was able to push through abuse, school, work, and into the Marine Corps because of boxes.  The trouble with boxes is that they don't grow.  They hold a finite amount of...stuff.  I grew but my boxes did not.  I had to grow, my world expanded exponentially when I left home and started out haphazardly.

Most of the people I have encountered in my pioneering journey did not understand me at all, and vice versa.

Let's skip ahead to today.  Now I seem to revel in bursting out of these boxes.  It wasn't too long ago that I realized that God didn't fit in any box, especially not the nice, safe, comfortable box I have seen people put him in for so long.  The next logical realization is that I do not fit into any box either.  The bad part about boxes is that they not only limit one's perspective, we give them the power and authority to limit our lives.

What doesn't fit in boxes?  Love!  Love for others (seen in consideration and charity) Love for oneself, and the most socially acceptable use of the word: Romantic love (the sum of the previous two plus a little something extra).

Can love be legislated?  Can we create  rules that make love happen?  My discovery is that the inverse is true.  The more rules we create; the less love happens.  People get married with some basic rules embodied in the vows they make to each other.  If every act has to be scheduled and mandatory does that allow love to grow?  Spontaneously picking up a pretty bouquet can be a fun, familiar way of showing a person that you love them.  What if picking up a pretty bouquet is scheduled for every Monday, and Monday is the only day one picks it up and presents it?  Does it express the same love?  Is the expression of love greater because of this new rule?

How I answer these questions allows me (and perhaps you) to get a peek at 'my' (your) boxes.  The wonderful thing that I am finding?  Love doesn't require rules, it naturally exceeds the standards of rules.

My significant other may feel upset if I don't ever get flowers.  A rule doesn't need to be made to govern flowers, because I pick up flowers spontaneously out of consideration (love) for my spouse, because I know that my spouse likes them.

The search for deeper truth isn't about exploring religion, but growing out of the boxes that are limiting one's love.

I gain a greater respect for the other inhabitants of this planet, when I realize, they, just like me are all  trapped in boxes. Some try to burst out, some need the boxes to survive or to push through tough times.