I just finsihed writing a paper for Sociology. I had to answer/address the following question:



"Do you think low-wage factory’s of multi-national corporations represent exploitation or opportunity? Why?"



Once upon a time I would have just answered the damned question, but
no, now due to my philosophy and communications classes I began my
paper with this:



"Either/or questions in argumentative rhetoric like the one above force
a reader to think in terms of black and white, right and wrong, and in
this case opportunity or exploitation as if there was not an entire
world of thought soaked in gray to be considered. The false dilemma is
that there are only two possible answers and life is not that simple,
not for the factory workers, or for the multi-national corporations
that hire them."



Honestly, I could have written an essay on the fallacies in the
question alone. False dilemma, appeal to emotional belief, loaded
question, guilt by association, etc, etc.



After my opening paragraph I then went on to define the terms and
discuss cultural relativism to come out with a surprising essay, even
for myself.



I once read that going to college makes a person move from cocksure
ignorance (primary certituide) to questionable uncertainty on issues. I
am certainly experiencing this but in so many classes where so much
time is spent "unpacking" the meaning of a question we never really
answer any. This forces me to ask myself; does college create a world
of thinkers when really we need a world of doers? Did you notice, I
just committed all of the same fallacies as the question above. Fuck.