Appeal to pity is what the psychiatry, bariatric, cosmetic industries and religion do to make you feel sad about yourself and then they give you a solution to "change for the better" when the real better is you right now.
What is it?
Appeal to pity is a technique used to sell a story or a way of thinking. Using children, animals,and sob stories to gain the trust of a customer and potential cult member is a good example of the appeal to pity technique. It plays with a person's emotions by using stories that are heartfelt and that make the target feel guilty about something (such as their body, looks, mind). According to Engage Wiki, manipulating a target to feel pity for something, or someone assists the perpetrator to sneak their beliefs onto the target because they now identify with a certain point of view. It is easy for psychiatric, cosmetic, bariatric industries and religion to use a heartfelt story to gain followers because people believe stories that have meaning and have emotion attached to them, according to Rational Wiki. As stated by Soft Schools, appeal to pity uses a person's empathy and sympathy to manipulate and persuade them to think the way the perpetrator wants. As emotional beings, we use our emotions a lot, clouding our judgement and critical thinking, as written by the site Logical Fallacies. Even the most skilled skeptic can not resist feeling sad for starving children in Africa, which is why this tactic is so dangerous and useful.
How does it relate?
Industries will use appeal to pity when try to make you feel sad about something. If they can make you feel sad about something they can easily sell you a product by making you think they are caring and compassionate. They are't however, they don't care about you, or your health, your well being at all, they sadly, only care about making a profit. The only thing they care about is making you feel sad about your body, your look, or your mind and tell you how happy it made someone else to buy their product and lose weight, "finally" be handsome/pretty, or "stopped being sad and started living." What they don't want you to know is that bodies are different, you will have good and bad days, beauty is subjective and ugliness ,fatness, and insanity are okay. The bariatric, psychiatric, cosmetic industry and religion will tell sob stories about how bad a person's life was before they "lost weight," "got better," "got surgery," "found God."
The best things to do is stay clear of any "personal" stories and understand it is a marketing and propaganda tactic.
Appeal to pity is a technique used to sell a story or a way of thinking. Using children, animals,and sob stories to gain the trust of a customer and potential cult member is a good example of the appeal to pity technique. It plays with a person's emotions by using stories that are heartfelt and that make the target feel guilty about something (such as their body, looks, mind). According to Engage Wiki, manipulating a target to feel pity for something, or someone assists the perpetrator to sneak their beliefs onto the target because they now identify with a certain point of view. It is easy for psychiatric, cosmetic, bariatric industries and religion to use a heartfelt story to gain followers because people believe stories that have meaning and have emotion attached to them, according to Rational Wiki. As stated by Soft Schools, appeal to pity uses a person's empathy and sympathy to manipulate and persuade them to think the way the perpetrator wants. As emotional beings, we use our emotions a lot, clouding our judgement and critical thinking, as written by the site Logical Fallacies. Even the most skilled skeptic can not resist feeling sad for starving children in Africa, which is why this tactic is so dangerous and useful.
How does it relate?
Industries will use appeal to pity when try to make you feel sad about something. If they can make you feel sad about something they can easily sell you a product by making you think they are caring and compassionate. They are't however, they don't care about you, or your health, your well being at all, they sadly, only care about making a profit. The only thing they care about is making you feel sad about your body, your look, or your mind and tell you how happy it made someone else to buy their product and lose weight, "finally" be handsome/pretty, or "stopped being sad and started living." What they don't want you to know is that bodies are different, you will have good and bad days, beauty is subjective and ugliness ,fatness, and insanity are okay. The bariatric, psychiatric, cosmetic industry and religion will tell sob stories about how bad a person's life was before they "lost weight," "got better," "got surgery," "found God."
The best things to do is stay clear of any "personal" stories and understand it is a marketing and propaganda tactic.
References
The Engage Wiki. "Appeal to sympathy." The Engage Wiki. 3 May 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <http://wiki.engageeducation.org.au/english/language-analysis/appeal-2/appeal-to-sympathy/>
Soft School. "Appeal to Pity Examples." Softschools.com. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <http://www.softschools.com/examples/fallacies/appeal_to_pity_examples/438/>
Rational Wiki. "Appeal to pity - RationalWiki." Rationalwiki.org. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Appeal_to_pity>
Philosophy. Lander.Edu. "Argumentum ad Misericordiam." Philosophy.lander.edu. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <http://philosophy.lander.edu/logic/misery.html>
Changing Minds. "Appeal to Pity." Changingminds.org. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <http://changingminds.org/disciplines/argument/fallacies/appeal_pity.htm>
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com. "Appeal to Pity." https://www.logicallyfallacious.com. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/39/Appeal-to-Pity>
Logical Fallacies. "Logical Fallacies» Appeal to Pity." Logicalfallacies.info. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/appeals/appeal-to-pity/>
Wikipedia Contributors. "Appeal to pity." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Feb. 2018. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_pity>
N.a. "Critical Thinking: The Fallacy of Appeal to Pity - YouTube." Youtube.com. n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2018. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBIGUQKzCkE>
The Engage Wiki. "Appeal to sympathy." The Engage Wiki. 3 May 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <http://wiki.engageeducation.org.au/english/language-analysis/appeal-2/appeal-to-sympathy/>
Soft School. "Appeal to Pity Examples." Softschools.com. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <http://www.softschools.com/examples/fallacies/appeal_to_pity_examples/438/>
Rational Wiki. "Appeal to pity - RationalWiki." Rationalwiki.org. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Appeal_to_pity>
Philosophy. Lander.Edu. "Argumentum ad Misericordiam." Philosophy.lander.edu. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <http://philosophy.lander.edu/logic/misery.html>
Changing Minds. "Appeal to Pity." Changingminds.org. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <http://changingminds.org/disciplines/argument/fallacies/appeal_pity.htm>
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com. "Appeal to Pity." https://www.logicallyfallacious.com. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/39/Appeal-to-Pity>
Logical Fallacies. "Logical Fallacies» Appeal to Pity." Logicalfallacies.info. n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/appeals/appeal-to-pity/>
Wikipedia Contributors. "Appeal to pity." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Feb. 2018. Web. 14 Feb. 2018. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_pity>
N.a. "Critical Thinking: The Fallacy of Appeal to Pity - YouTube." Youtube.com. n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2018. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBIGUQKzCkE>