The “Three Men
Make a Tiger” fallacy is extremely relevant in today’s world, which is flooded
with fake news and gossip. The fallacy is based off of a Chinese idiom, which
is a story about a man named Pang who went to the King and asked him if he
would believe Pang if he told the King that there was a tiger currently out on
the street. When the Kind replied “No”, Pang asked the King if he would believe
Pang if three men told the him that there was a tiger currently out on the
street, and the King replied “Yes”. This story is relevant to todays world as
the creation of fake news is becoming increasingly popular. The more people
that believe in the fake news and gossip, the more other people believe in it
too.
Everyone can
relate to some sort of fake news that they have heard, and some might even say that
they believed in it just because several others did too. An example of this
fallacy in today’s world is that Markets are efficient. Beating the market in
terms of price is basically impossible unless you have inside information. What
a lot of people don’t know, is that everyone has access to this inside
information. For example, the company GNI lists itself as being almost three
times as much as it is really worth. Everyone believes their statement, because
the company, the workers, and the consumers all spread this information, making
others believe that it is true just because multiple people are making this
claim.
Another example is
the assumption that gold can’t be manipulated. The new topic of conversation in
the gold industry is that large traders are suppressing its price. Therefore, everyone
thinks that manipulation is impossible, at least when companies are attempting to
make a profit. Again, most people believe this notion because the company is
telling consumers that they cannot get a better price anywhere else, and the consumers
are believing this concept just because the companies are telling them that
this is true.
A third example of
this fallacy is something that I have actually witnessed personally. Living in
Greek housing on campus, especially with women, gossiping and fake news is very
prevalent. It can pertain to a number of different topics, like what is
happening with other Greek chapters on campus, things about other women in the
house, etc. Especially with women, most people believe the fake news because
they are hearing it from multiple women in the house, which was ultimately
caused by the initial gossip.
A final example of
this fallacy is the Jimmy Kimmel Lie Witness videos that Jimmy Kimmel creates
for his live television show. The point of the videos is to interview random
people on the street about fake news, and hear their reaction. One video that
stands out to me the most is the one about President Trump appointing Rob
Kardashian to a position as a supreme court nominee. Everyone in the clip
believes the fake news because it is coming from a popular source (Jimmy
Kimmel), even though the source isn’t considered reliable. Basically, they just
want to be on TV (but don’t we all).
In conclusion,
there are obviously flaws in the reasoning behind the Three Men Make a Tiger
fallacy. You never know if your sources are valid, and it is hard to form your
own opinion on things when you don’t know if you have valid information. How do
you know if your source is valid, and how do you form your own opinion even
when the majority might promote a different idea than you?
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