Can you outsmart the fallacy that divided a nation? - Elizabeth Cox

742,160 views ・ 2022-02-01

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:10
What, you want my milkshake? Here.
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“It’s 1819.
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As the United States Congress prepares to make Missouri
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the 24th state in the Union,
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Representative James Tallmage Jr. delivers a speech.
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He says slavery is morally wrong,
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calling it an ‘abomination’ and a ‘monstrous scourge.’
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He insists that ‘the extension of the evil must now be prevented,’
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and that slavery shouldn’t be allowed in Missouri, or any new state.”
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Obviously.
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“Representative Tyler disagrees.
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He believes it is a state’s right to choose whether or not to allow slavery.
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He doesn’t think the federal government can prohibit slavery
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in any newly added states.”
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01:01
Whaaaaat?
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“Senator Thomas proposes what he sees as a compromise:
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Missouri will join the union along with another state, Maine.
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Slavery will be allowed in Missouri and prohibited in Maine.
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01:14
He also suggests drawing a line through territories yet to become states:
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slavery will be prohibited north of the line, and allowed south of it.”
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01:23
And this is where I have to draw the line.
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01:39
That’s better.
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01:40
Now, senators, congressmen,
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this Missouri compromise you are proposing is fundamentally flawed—
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flawed is putting it mildly.
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The compromise is based on the middle ground fallacy.
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By saying that half of the new territories should allow slavery
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while half prohibit it,
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02:00
you position the two viewpoints, pro-slavery and anti-slavery,
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as equally valid.
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But if one view is wrong, while the other is right,
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a compromise between them is still wrong.
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And one side is definitely wrong here: the pro-slavery side.
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The whole reason this government exists,
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the whole reason states exist at all, is to serve the people.
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That should include all people.
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Now, I know there are those among you who would argue otherwise,
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even among those in favor of ending slavery.
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In response to your many contorted arguments, all of them wrong,
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I offer this reminder:
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the idea that slavery is morally indefensible is not new to you.
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The founders of your country knew it and many even acknowledged it publicly,
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even those of them who enslaved other people themselves.
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It’s clear that the errors and delusions on this subject
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go far beyond the middle ground fallacy,
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but I call your attention to this particular fallacy
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because it can have dire consequences in many situations.
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Failure to recognize the fact that a compromise between two positions,
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one of which is morally indefensible, is also morally indefensible,
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has helped to perpetuate countless injustices large and small.
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Even well-intentioned people— which rest assured,
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I don’t mistake you for— fall prey to this fallacy,
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because you humans tend to view compromise as a virtue unto itself.
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“It’s March 1861.
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Seven states have seceded from the Union
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since Abraham Lincoln was elected president.
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As Lincoln takes office with four more states threatening to leave,
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he promises not to interfere with slavery in states where it exists,
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but to prohibit its expansion into new territories and states.”
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04:03
“It’s April 1861, and a Civil War has broken out over slavery.”
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Some things can't be resolved with a compromise.
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