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Loaded question: A question which
is intended to get a particular answer. Example: "You
don't want to see our world become more polluted, do you?" |
Used by pollsters, lawyers, and others to illegitimately direct
the person to a particular answer, when the question could be asked
in a neutral way. This often appears as rhetorical questions. The
rhetorical question shows up when someone doesn't have enough evidence
to make a straight forward statement that would act as a premise.
Instead, the question hopes that the reader will assume the desired
answer.
(i) Being a concerned citizen, are you planning to vote this year?
(ii) Who would want to see their children going to an underfunded
school?
(iii) You wouldn't want to see all the redwoods cut down, would
you?
(iv) 200 million tons of toxic chemicals are dumped into American
waterways each day by industry. Do you think stricter pollution
laws should be enacted?
Show that the question is asked in such a way that only one answer
could be given without great struggle, and that the answer to that
question favors the one asking it.
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