1. Running Head: THE MEDIA & ISIS CRISIS 1
Kaitlyn A. Potter
The Media’s Abuse of Logic over the ISIS Crisis
Texas Tech University

2. THE MEDIA & ISIS CRISIS 2
The use of meaningless language, also known as nonsense, is utilized in many ways
throughout our everyday communication. From emotional conversations with peers to a heated
debate between colleagues, nonsense is apparent. There are profuse ways that people go about
being illogical by using what is called fallacies in our language (Gula, xi). Within these fallacies
there exists differences and combinations of each (Gula, xi). The three fallacy’s that will be
discussed in this essay include appeal to status, appeal to fear, and negative and positive image
words. This essay will demonstrate how the media uses these fallacies to their advantage when
covering the crisis over the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS.
ISIS is a fundamentalist extremist terrorist organization that has begun to terrorize
portions of the Middle East that include Iraq, Syria, and the surrounding areas. Over the last six
months the coverage over this crisis has become more and more widespread through use of
social media. Not only by the reporters, but by ISIS themselves who continue to use social
media as a way to, not only terrorize, but recruit members towards their cause as well. This
paper will show where and how these fallacies are being used by the media in order to achieve
their desired reaction of the public.
One of the most used fallacies in the media is the appeal to status. When using this type
of fallacy the media appeals to a person who considers the label of a bag or the highest priced
item of utmost importance when making a decision (Gula, 12). Appeal to status is used to
persuade the reader that what is being said is true. In the article, “How Serious a Threat is
ISIS?,” published in The Atlantic newspaper this month by Peter Beinart, he quotes Democratic
Senator Dianne Feinstein. Senator Feinstein states that “The threat ISIS poses cannot be
overstated” (Beinart, 2014). He then follows the quote with a claim from the Senator’s
Republican colleague, Jim Inhofe, that ISIS is, “‘rapidly developing a method of blowing up a

3. THE MEDIA & ISIS CRISIS 3
major U.S. city” and that as a result, “We’re in the most dangerous position we’ve ever been in
as a nation’” (Beinart, 2014). The use of these statements by prestigious political figures is
meant to persuade the reader that ISIS is in fact a threat to the United States’ national security.
This fallacy is very effective because most readers will assume that if political figures of
knowledge in this area feel that there truly exists a great threat by ISIS then it must be true.
Appeal to fear is another fallacy being widely used by the media, particularly when referring
to the ISIS crisis. According to Robert J. Gula (2011), the author of “Nonsense: Red Herrings,
Straw Men, and Sacred Cows: How We Abuse Logic in Our Everyday Language,” “the appeal to
fear tries to frighten us into a specific action or into accepting a specific belief” (p. 9). Within
Beinart’s article he makes the point, supported once again by a figure of higher status, Michael
Morell, that declaring war on ISIS will surely exacerbate the issue and “it doesn’t in any way
lessen the despicable, barbaric nature of the beheadings of James Foley and Steven Sotloff to
note that ISIS justified them as a response to U.S. airstrikes” (Beinart, 2014). The mention of
U.S. retaliation against the terroristic organization being directly correlated with the beheadings
of Foley and Sotloff immediately causes the reader to experience a since of fear. He concludes
the article with a substantial paragraph on possible threats to the United States and causes more
terror in the mind of the reader with these words, “…the U.S. launches a war against ISIS that
will likely take years and have myriad unforeseen consequences…” (Beinart, 20014). Peter
Beinart uses the appeal to fear fallacy throughout the entire article to create a more dramatic
piece and ensure the reader will continue to stay engrossed in the story.
The final fallacy that will be explored, when referring to media coverage on ISIS, is the
use of image words. There are two variations of this fallacy including positive image words and
negative image words. According to Gula (2011), “A positive image word is one that tries to

4. THE MEDIA & ISIS CRISIS 4
make things sound better than they actually are…” and that “[Negative image words] make
things sound worse than they may actually be” (p. 41, 43). Throughout the entire article, “ISIS
Fighters and Their Friends are Total Social Media Pros,” author Alice Speri uses these image
words in both facets. Examples of negative image words within her article include “battlefield,
ominous warning, target, catapulted, conquering, splinter, fearing, tyrants’ propaganda and lies,
battle, defend, overinflate, commandeered, monopoly, graphic, nightmarish, risk, difficulties,
harsh, gruesome, and enemies” (Speri, 2014). Some positive image words used by Speri are
“strength, pros, highly focused, boost, buzz, prolific, encourage, support, united, advantage,
prominence, luxuries, enjoy, love, and even cute” (Speri, 2014). Clearly the article is covering a
very negative subject therefore the number of negative image words is more abundant than that
of positive ones. Speri’s use of negative image words shows how truly horrible ISIS is while her
use of positive image words reinforces the negative aspects of the subject. For instance, in the
beginning of her article Speri states that, “The offensive in Iraq is opening up a new battlefield
both on and offline… And, so far, ISIS militants have proved that they are absolute pros at the
Twitter wars (Speri, 2014). The utilization of negative image words such as “battlefield” and
“wars” combined with positive ones including “opening”, “new”, and “absolute pros” greatly
enhances Speri’s ability to portray to the reader how dangerous, yet effective, ISIS is.
Authors, politicians, advertising companies, and even motivational speakers use fallacies
to their advantage when trying to persuade or influence people. Appeal to authority, appeal to
fear, and negative and positive image words are just a few from a vast list of fallacies that are
utilized in media coverage on the ISIS crisis in the Middle East. Because of the infinite ways
people can use fallacies to manipulate their audience it is critical that the reader, consumer, or
listener be able to differentiate between what is nonsense and what is not.

5. THE MEDIA & ISIS CRISIS 5
References
Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A.
(2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/560/
Beinart, P. (2014, September 11). How serious a threat is isis? The Atlantic. Retrieved from
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/09/obama-iraq-syria-isis-war-
sold/380026/
Gula, R.J. (2007). Nonsense: Red herrings, straw men, and sacred cows: How we abuse logic in
our everyday language. Mount Jackson, VA: Axios Press
Speri, A. (2014, June 17). ISIS fighters and their friends are total social media pros. Vice News.
Retrieved from https://news.vice.com/article/isis-fighters-and-their-friends-are-total-
social-media-pros