Here, the writer appeals to a shared national identity as Asrelicans to draw
the reader to accept their conclusions about homelessness and housing policy.
This can be frequently spotted through the use of words like we and our.
Lastly, assumptions and
biases can be seen in the way in which an argument is presented and
its relationship to knowledge, logical connections, for example.
And the use of common sense or ideologies can often hide assumptions and biases.
Take this example.
Widow Smith's neighbour Henry Collins said that she appeared to
him in several nightmares.
As a result, she was convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake.
In this case, the use of the term as a result according to Fairclough
signals that the expected happened.
Now, this argument is ridiculous to most people.
We question what the relationship between appearing in someone's nightmares and
being a witch is.
How is that the expected conclusion?
The evidence doesn't add up.
Secondly, we question why being a witch necessarily
leads to being burned at the stake.
However, this kind of argument didn't seem so ridiculous in 1692,
during the Salem Witch Trials.
Here's another more recent example.
The homeless man was refused a job even though he was highly qualified.
In this case, the assumption is that being highly qualified for
a job means you should get it.
The use of the term even though as Fairclough suggests, signals that
what would be expected to happen, given the assumption, failed to happen.
Another way that assumptions and
biases hide in arguments is through the use of certain or definitive language.
Certain or definitive language is language that does not hedge and
instead uses words like proves or definitely.
This kind of language according to Cottrell, suggests that the argument is so
obvious that there's no need to evaluate it.