Beware jumping on bandwagons

[Szdfan]

This topic is about the problems of political bandwagons in general, not just this one.

OK. So what is a political bandwagon? Can you give me a definition that we can use to examine anyone's posts, across the political spectrum, to see if they are promoting political bandwagons? A definition that would fit equally well whether or not you agree with the poster's opinions?

This is the definition I used in class --

A wrong argument which is based on affirming that something is real or better because the majority thinks so.

I'm still refining my definitions to make them more understandable to my high school students. I swapped out the word "fallacious" with "wrong," but I'm not sure if it captures the same sense. Perhaps "misleading" would get closer to it. I appreciate feedback.

What can we do to examine our own posts and thinking to determine if we are playing "political bandwagon"?

The origins of the word "bandwagon" comes from 19th century political campaigns, so the term has been closely associated with politics, even though it's used in other places like advertising.

And yes, I think self-examination about how we integrate these fallacies and propaganda into our own thinking is an interesting and important question.

[Szdfan]

Do you have an example of a bandwagon you’d like to share?
Whether one you jumped on or not?

This is one of my favorites that I use as an example with my students:


It's a Pepsi ad from the early 80s that features a bunch of people dancing to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." The lyrics of the song have been changed to be about how the kids are a "whole new generation" that's drinking Pepsi and calls them "the Pepsi Generation." It's completely over the top and it apparently worked.

Incidentally, the main kid dancing is Alfonsio Ribeiro, who later played Carlton on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."