For The Children (politics)

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The phrase "for the children", or similar phrases such as "think of the children," is an appeal to emotion and can be used to support an irrelevant conclusion (both logical fallacies) when used in an argument. The phrase may also be seen as a valid appeal to a moral value that may be the basis for logical argument or action.

[edit] Reasoning

1. P is good for children
2. Children are good
3. Therefore, anything related to children is good
4. Therefore, P is good

[edit] Logical fallacy

"For the children" suffers from the logical fallacies of appeal to emotion and irrelevant conclusion.^{[citation needed]} This argument can simply appeal to the listener's emotion by connecting an argument to innocent children that many people feel an instinctual need to protect.^{[citation needed]} Using such an argument may not even be related to the topic. For example, a politician could claim that a policy to ban oil drilling would protect the children, even if the oil drilling was in the ocean. In this example, the politician is appealing to others' emotional desire to protect children. However, any impact it would have on children would be indirect, so "protecting the children" with this policy is rather irrelevant.

[edit] Examples

• Actual wording of 2006 ballot initiative, Cook County, Illinois: "For the health and safety of children and the entire community, shall the State of Illinois enact a comprehensive ban on the manufacture, sale, delivery and possession of military-style assault weapons and .50 caliber rifles?" [1]
• Rod Serling: "For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own -- for the children, and the children yet unborn."^{[citation needed]}
• "Won't someone think of the children?" from USA Today.[2]
• The phrase "Won't somebody please think of the children?" is a running gag on The Simpsons (see Quotes).

Fallacies of relevance
Accident • Ad nauseam • Base rate fallacy • Chronological snobbery • Compound question • Fallacy of many questions • False compromise • Naturalistic fallacy • Proof by assertion • Irrelevant conclusion • Special pleading • Straw man • Two wrongs make a right
Appeals to emotion
Fear • Flattery • Novelty • Queerness • Pity • Ridicule • Spite • Wishful thinking
Genetic fallacies
Ad hominem (Ad hominem tu quoque) • Appeal to authority • Appeal to motive • Appeal to tradition • Argumentum ad crumenam • Argumentum ad lazarum • Association fallacy • Ipsedixitism • Poisoning the well • Reductio ad Hitlerum