Logical fallacies are put into a different category than the rest. Heinrichs does this on purpose in Thank You For Arguing, by explaining it in chapter fifteen. The name of the fallacy discussed is the fallacy of power which is the fallacy that assumes that the person in charge is always right. With this fallacy Heinrichs explains that "there are no right or wrong decisions in an argument , there is only likely and unlikely. (pg 157)".
So if there is no right or wrong, could an argument go on forever? It is important to note that one should never block the argument. An argument wants to reach a conclusion, a satisfactory conclusion that leaves both sides knowing they gave it their rhetorical all. Whenever an argument is "blocked" it is called a foul. I think of this foul like the foul ball in baseball. The pitcher and the batter are both ready, each with their own set of skills ready to show it off to the world. The pitcher and the batter can both commit fouls if you think about it. the pitcher can manipulate the ball so that the batter can't hit it, therefore ending the "argument" or baseball play. The batter can hit a foul ball and that can also put an end to the bas argument (see what I did there?).
The golden rule learned in this chapter is: Never argue the inarguable. All parts of the argument must remain on task and using real persuasion. To do this, no fouls must be done. Still, even the author admits that in the rhetoric world, there are very little rules. The success of the argument depends on those taking part in it.
Discussing the fouls that can be commented, humiliation is one of them. Humiliation is a foul because all it seeks is to gain the upper hand or just ridicule the victim. Does not really go with playing fair. Within humiliation there is innuendo. Remember all those old T.V shows we watched when we were little? Well, whether they were Disney or Nickelodeon, some of them had sue funky innuendos. We didn't catch on to most of them because we aren't the geniuses we are today. For example in the Flinstones there is a perverted joke that I would have never gotten when I was six and glued to my T.V watching the characters. This right here is a pretty um interesting innuendo.
Although fallacies can sometimes be harmful to an argument and are not the most correct use of rhetoric, they can also be very useful to maipulate the audience in a certain direction. I agree with you in the sense that blocking an argument is one of the biggest fouls you can make, since the argument will be temporarily frozen until one of the parts is able to get out of the stalemate and continue with the persuasion. The fact that there is no right or wrong decisions in rhetoric makes it a lot more complex than pure logic, since it is your task to provide the audience with choices and then persuade the audience to chose the one you favor. I agree with you when yo depict the main point of the chapter, which is avoid debating the inarguable, since it is useless. The examples provided add a lot of clarity to the points described in the chapter and emphasize on the importance of using rhetoric effectively, without falling into the use of fallacies.
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