I recently completed my first tutorial lesson in the National University of Singapore (NUS) as an electrical engineering student. Interestingly, it has nothing to do with mathematics or science, but rather on critical argument:

Critical Thinking and Writing (EG1413)

This course aims to foster the critical thinking, reading and writing skills which engineering students need to be successful in the university and in the engineering profession. Learners are taught the fundamentals of analyzing written ideas/arguments of others and they simultaneously practise writing approaches typical of the academic and professional settings: exposition, evaluation, analysis, argumentation and research.

Of course this course isn’t only for engineers. It will allow anyone who studies it to be able to identify fallacious arguements (in the blogosphere) and thus avoid being tricked by them as well as being able to attack them/fight back. Which can of course lead to much needed blogger dorama if things get to quiet around here.

Anyway, given the openess of blogs it is easy for them to mislead readers. For example, I am aware that my initial post on Osouji Sentai Clean Keeper is getting a shitload of hits. Most probably because I’m one of the only English bloggers in the world that has covered it, which can lead to everyone thinking the Wii is actually getting a 18+ game (when it isn’t) if they don’t read the post properly. The damage has already been done and I can’t just change it now as it will lead to even greater confusion. This is why I feel it is essential to keep the comments function open so that other bloggers can correct another blogger. Counter-posts/snipes are helpful as well. Afterall, no blogger is perfect.

In fact, I feel one of the best ways to do well at this module is to start a blog in a suitable blogosphere. Afterall when you blog argumentatively, you are actually putting your ass on the line for readers and bloggers alike to pummel with your blog’s credibility at stake. I like writing argumentatively, thus I know how the feeling is like. As for any NUS students or anime bloggers to be, do take note as you might want to take this as a supplementary module.

As I have mentioned, one of the first skills we are taught as a critical thinker is to identify fallacies in arguements. I’ll just highlight a few interesting ones I’ve learnt so far:

1. Appeal to Ignorance (Ad Ignorantiam): The appeal to ignorance consists in arguing that because a claim has not been demonstrated to be false, the claim is true. For instance,

Of course I believe in ESP. No one has ever demonstrated that it doesn’t exist.

4. Appeal to General Belief (Ad Populum): This fallacy consists in asserting that a claim is correct just because people generally believe it is. Such an inference is an error because we have no reason to take what most people believe as a reliable indicator of what is true.

5. Appeal to Popular Attitudes and Emotions (also called Ad Populum): Popular attitudes and the emotions associated with them can be manipulated to incline people to accept claims that have not been demonstrated.

I find fallacies 4 and 5 highly applicable to the modern world especially when you look at all the Bleach and Narutards around. In fact, there are actually 2 Bleachtards in this class, and I wonder whether the course can help un-tard them. It seems that the reasoning for most Bleachtards is:

Everyone is watching Bleach. It is selling really well. Therefore it is good.

And:

Almost no one is watching Kanon. It isn’t selling very well. Therefore it must suck.

Which will undoubtly earn you a big fat F if you apply this train of thought while undertaking this module.

Also applicable to the gaming world where:

Everyone is playing WoW. It is selling well. Therefore it is good.

When actually, there are a lot more MMORPGs out there that are a lot better. I have a friend who is a hardcore MMO purist and he always reminds me that “WoW is for f*cking MMO noobs”.

What actually happened was that we were being forced to introduce ourselves by the lecturer and there were these two guys that said they were “interested in Japanese culture… cartoons actually” and I was thinking to myself “whoo hoo, fellow Otaku?” so I wrote something on the back of my tutorial booklet and flashed it over at them and said “know what’s this?”:

They replied “Eroge? What’s that?” to which I had no choice but to say “errr, never mind.”

And this is what I call the eroge-test to identify fellow Otaku. Try it, its fun.

Oh and I didn’t introduce myself as someone who “liked Japanese visual culture”. I just said something along the lines of “I play tennis, and I’m a trained guard dog handler.” Sufficient to satisfy the tutor and most of the class. I mean, I really don’t want the Bleach-tards to think I like Bleach or anything like that because I freaking don’t!

Needless to say, posting on this blog might slow down since I’m still adjusting to school life from pure working life. I’m still keeping my job part-time anyway, so rather I’m adjusting to school+work+blogging life. And, no, I’m not some super duper intelligent Masters graduate like Impz is, so don’t expect me to churn out blogposts as frequently as in the past as I do have to keep my grades up.