https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8363944/incredible-true-mystery-of-nine-students-found-dead-during-siberian-cross-country-ski-trip-blamed-on-aliens-yetis-or-even-soviet-death-rays/
Ah, The Sun, always a source of great material on fallacies. I have prior knowledge of this incident, and while tragic, has many possible explanations. From Aliens, as suggested, to convicts, death-rays, and bears, those damn Soviets are always up to somethin'. Let's step back half a second and view this objectively, it's a bunch of kids in the forest drinking in SIBERIA off a mountain. A lot of things could go wrong that are completely human and completely normal.
Let's dissect this and see what fallacies The Sun, and other "investigators" of this incident rely on to keep this 60 year old mystery alive. The article opens with these shocking facts from the case: "Russian cops are probing the mysterious Dyatlov Pass Incident, where the group's near-naked bodies were found in -30C, including a woman missing a tongue and her eyeballs, about a mile from a slashed tent." This is actually a few fallacies, starting with over-precision and then uses Texas Sharpshooter to draw implied conclusions. The over-specificity is number of facts without any context. It is a presentation of facts, but each are out of context. These out of context facts ask us to then jump to the conclusion that some nefarious reason must be the cause. It was -30C and a common sign of Hypothermia is actually the feeling of being unbearably hot, which may be the reason they ripped off their clothes. Hearing that the eyes and tongue of a victim are missing may seem more nefarious if it wasn't common for animals to go after both of these spots first, and many pet-owners have also been the victims of a similar treatment from their own dogs and cats. The slashed tent could have been from an animal attack or maybe frustration at not being able to open a tent with gloves and frostbitten hands. More over-precision is found here: "But the remaining four missing hikers were not located until two months later, when they were also found partially clothed, in a ravine about 75 metres from the pine tree./ In all, there are 75 theories about how and why the nine ski hikers died...". This is also a sort of number alliteration that is supposed to obvious hark to the fact that there is a theory per meter of distance. This means little to anything, and I'm sure there are more than 75 theories, it just sounds good.
"There were reports of strange lights and “bright orbs” in the sky at the same time." This is a Cum Hoc argument that because there were strange orbs, and this tragedy happened, the tragedy must be caused by the orbs. This is a possible explanation, but it is not the most likely. Same with the following quote "Or could it have been linked to ultra-sonic weapons – given that they passed away in the height of the Cold War?"
Another fallacy used often in this post is the argument from celebrity. It is evident in the quotes where investigators or authors, using no evidence, claim that X must have happened to the group. "McCloskey concluded that the mystery will never be solved, and that there was some sort of cover-up at the time." McClosky is an author who stands to profit from intentionally misconstruing the story for more readers. Another "expert" is the lead prosecutor, the only one with actual knowledge of the case in this whole story, had this to say “Relatives, the media and the public still ask prosecutors to determine the truth and don’t hide their suspicions that something was hidden from them.” So maybe there is an element of this that still defies them, but this is not a statement about the case itself, but how the relatives feel about the case. It seems like evidence, but really isn't. Another example, a false expert: "A pathologist concluded the deaths were caused by a force equal to that of a car accident, or the shock wave caused by an explosion." What pathologist, did they have credentials, why or how did they conclude this.
By using fallacies of over-precision, cum hoc, and arguments from celebrity experts to sell the idea that ANYONE in this ordeal knew what happened. It's a senseless tragedy, and it could have honestly been a soviet test, or hypothermia, but I highly doubt aliens or a yeti caused this tragedy. Further, until we have new, or better evidence this is going to remain unsolved. Hopefully, we will learn something about what happened, but ultimately a bunch of young adults ventured into the woods and none of them lived to tell the tale. I want to hear more about the radiation and how that might have gotten there. Maybe it was a leak of radon that lead to acute paranoia or other symptoms. In anycase, the author presents many problems, and no real solutions to the problem and instead of say, we don't know we get something, ANYTHING to try to soothe the public.
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