English 1A
Holper
Analogies in An Inconvenient Truth
Remember, in a false analogy,
two things may be alike in one respect, but seriously unlike each other in a
different and important aspect; therefore, the comparison will not hold. Here is a list of some of Gore’s analogies:
1)
The frog in
hot water. Gore makes the argument that a frog dropped
into hot water will jump out again. He
then points out that a frog will stay put if it’s placed in cooler water that
is gradually warmed. Is this analogy
valid or not?
2)
Gore quotes
Winston Churchill (on the eve of WWII) as saying, "The era of
procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of
delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of
consequence." By this analogy, Gore
is comparing the rise of fascism with the looming problem of global warming.
Is this analogy valid or not?
3)
Gore describes
how his father farmed tobacco. Then he describes how his sister died of lung
cancer as a result of being a smoker. He
points out how his father then drew the connection between tobacco farming and
his daughter’s death; as a result, he stopped growing tobacco. Gore argues that in our current position we
are essentially in a related sort of denial about the negative consequences of
our behavior that produces greenhouse gasses. Is this analogy valid or not?
4)
Early on in the
film Gore says that he had two rather different teachers, one who was
not very good and one who was extraordinary.
He describes how a friend of his asked if Africa and
5)
Gore describes
his son’s accident and how it forced him “to go deeper” than he had before into the issue of global warming
because he know knew what was at stake.
Implicit in this argument (setting aside its emotional appeal) is the
idea that in watching the film, we should go deeper too. Is this analogy valid
or not?
6)
Gore uses the
metaphor of the canary in the coal mine
when he alludes to ice shelves collapsing in