This article is about bills aimed to prevent cybersecutiy attacks that could compromise national security. While many valid claims are made, the following passage is a logical fallacy.
"We are incredibly vulnerable," he said. "If we don't make our policy makers think about this seriously, we'll be dealing with something like 9/11."
This is the slippery slope fallacy, which the Writing 140 course book defines as implying "that a small step in a certain direction, in personal choice or social policy, will inevitably lead one down a slippery slope toward ruin and disaster."
That is exactly what this statement from the article is doing. It is suggesting that without the proposed legislation, our country will surely face a calamitous disaster on the scale of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Instead of admitting that there may be other solutions, the statement suggests that the only way to prevent such a disaster is to enact the proposed legislation. It is an unexplained, exaggerated prediction-- not responsible argumentation.
Or it could be a "stirring symbol"--where we're so emotionally affected by the comparison ("9/11") that we don't think about whether the comparison is apt.
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