Panhandling Fallacy

Panhandling is a common social problem in the contemporary society. Panhandling is a term that refers to unlawful form of begging. Aggressive panhandling is common in many big cities. The act involves soliciting of donations or money from the public in a wrong way. The essay explores an inappropriate use of a fallacy related to panhandling as a contemporary social problem. The article “The Return of NYC’s Broken Windows” by John Podhoretz presents a genetic fallacy and inappropriate argument by authorities concerning aggressive panhandling. Thus, aggressive panhandling is a fallacy because this social problem fails to effectively evaluate the claim on its merit. Aggressive panhandling is a major social problem, and it is a genetic fallacy in the article of the “The Return of NYC’s Broken Windows”. Podhoretz argues that the street crimes escalate in areas where disorderly behavior goes unchecked (para. 9). He further adds that “the unchecked panhandler is the first broken window” (Podhoretz para. 9). In this case, the author commits genetic fallacy because the reader may accept or reject the idea of this source rather than its merit.

Thus, accepting any idea because of the effectiveness of its source does not look any better than rejecting it due to the badness of its source. In other words, the inappropriate argument from authority concerning the social problem of panhandling is a fallacy. For example, accepting the idea that New York City was as safe in 1962 as it is currently is a fallacy as the reader was earlier brainwashed that the level of street crime was high in the New York City and the number of panhandling arrests on the subways had tripled since 2013 (Podhoretz para. 12). However, the author again argues that the major crime remains a rarity in the New York City. The serious crime was low in 1990, but it is not an error. However, the crime rose up to seventy nine percent in