Moreno Valley's Gentrification Plans

Moreno Valley, CA, a city located in the county of Riverside in the Inland Empire, is considered a fastly growing suburban area with its spike in population by 25 percent from 142,000 to 178,000.  These statistics are based on the time span on 2000-2004 (Dreier and Stekler).  One major reason for this expansion: "the combination of cheaper land and fiscally trapped small cities welcoming new single-family subdivisions, encourages developers to build on the suburban fringe rather than near the urban center."  Developers and gentrifiers are attracted to areas like Moreno Valley because the land is large, cheap and welcoming, great for the housing market. 

The average home in Los Angeles sells for $500,000 whereas in Moreno Valley, a much large home is valued at half that price, $255,000.  With the influx of the population of Los Angeles, builders could not keep up with the housing construction demands.  Thus, the population looked elsewhere to places nearby that offered affordable housing such as Moreno Valley. 

The building of housing and movement of people to the housing was productive in its beginning stages becasue the inital housing mortgage payments demanded of residents were low.  However, these demands increased over time, making it difficult for residents to keep their homes.  As a result, many of the residents had to give their homes up to the bank because of inability to pay the demanded mortgage payments.  This trend occured over the city, making Moreno Valley one of the largest Southern California areas of  housing foreclosure.

Vote or Die!! Choose now!

If a crazed activist approached you with these options, which one would you choose.  Obviously, if you value your life, without hesitation you would select the option to vote.  With the return of the midterm election, I thought it was only right to expose the logical fallacy of a voting campaign headed by super producer/rapper/actor/entreprenuer Sean "Puffy/ P. Diddy/ Diddy/ Puff Daddy" Combs. 

This campaign slogan is an example of False Dichotomy, which, by definition, is a fallacy in which only two options are provided, one being the favorable over the other obviously unwanted option.  Here the options "Vote" or "Die" are used to emphasize the importance of voting.  the advertisers are trying to stress that there is no better choice or option than to spend your time voting.  This campaign was targeted to young voters being that they are the lowest percentage of voters at election time.  To advocte voting, this campaign aired commercials and held parties featuring various popular musical artists, models, and actors such as Paris Hilton and Kanye West. 

Is the fallacy effective?  Whether or not the fallacy  is effective is a question, however, the publicity made by celebrities definitely is effective.  This campaign made voting less of a civic duty but more of a trendy thing to do.

Sean [P. Diddy] Combs: Vote or Die! <--- Click here to view the article by The Black Collegian online

Hasty Generalization

"Anything is possible when you man smells like Old Spice and not a lady."

According to Old Spice advertisers, men can recreate the charm, body and looks of their Old Spice model, not by working out, not by showering their women with gifts, but by using Old Spice body wash.  This argument is the logical fallacy Hasty Generalization.  According to definition, Hasty Generalization makes a broad claim on the basis of narrow evidence and usually one or two examples.  Here the broad claim is that men can do anything just as long as they smell like the sent produced by using Old Spice.  Their reasoning, evidence and examples are inexistent. Here Old Spice guareentees women, good looks, charm and a good physique to its users.

Oversimplifying the Problem

Since elections are a day away, I wanted to expose the fallacious nature of one of Meg Whitman's campaign slogans.  On her campaign website Meg Whitman for Government claims "If we let California fail, we all fail."  This definitely is oversimplifying the problem and its title is Oversimplification. 

Oversimplification, by definition, is an argument in which complex casual relationships are reduced or ignored in favor of a simple claim that fails to address significant dimensions of the issue.  According to Meg Whitman's argument, the failing of California automatically assumes our (Californians') fail.  This measurement of failing is inaccurate and the standards are not specific enough in her argument.  She implies that if she is elected she will lead the state by her doctrines.  As a result, California will not fail economically, politically, academically, etc. 

Here is a short video detailing her background and major components of her campaign.
Meet Meg Whitman: