Bloggers are fond of making sweeping statements, according to an observation by Lifespy blogger Alex Maximo on his personal blog. He says these generalizations tend to lead to unsound arguments, especially if absolutes are used, because these are tantamount to logical fallacies.
I do observe that some bloggers (myself included) are very much liable to commit sweeping statements. It’s a fallacy that’s quite common to commit. I know teachers of college freshman English will be so frustrated knowing that a good number of their spawns are going against the rules of academic writing. And it’s just one of the many inductive fallacies and all the other logical fallacies that one can commit in writing.
Alex cites two possibilities why this is so, and it’s either to claim authority or escape ignorance. Blog posts do sound more authoritative and credible when a blogger seems sure of what he’s writing about. And if a blogger is not so knowledgeable about a topic, he can qualify statements with the use of “some” or “a few.” I guess this is to be on the safe side.
So what’s worse: using absolutes like “everyone” or “never” or using a vague quantifier like “some” or “a few”? Either way, these indicate poor research. Or at least the use of vague quantifiers makes for impotent writing.
Then again, Alex is approaching things from the perspective of academic discourse. We cannot expect all bloggers to be excellent in English, nor in argumentation. A lot of blogs are narrative, and bloggers don’t intend to treat their writings as gospel truth. There are also literary/creative writing blogs, in which the usual rules of logic don’t necessarily apply. Still, it pays to practice good copy writing, especially if you want to bring across your points clearly.
This very post itself is probably guilty of making sweeping generalizations about bloggers. Perhaps I should rephrase the first sentence to say some bloggers are fond of making sweeping statements.
