Parade of horribles
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A parade of horribles is both a literal parade and a rhetorical device.
[edit] As a literal parade
"Parade of horribles" originally referred to a literal parade of people wearing comic and grotesque costumes, rather like the Philadelphia Mummers Parade. It was a traditional feature of Fourth-of-July parades in parts of the U. S. in the nineteenth century. A 1926 newspaper article about July Fourth celebrations in the White Mountains of New Hampshire notes
- Old-time celebrations are to be held tomorrow at Littleton, Lancaster, Colebrook, and Conway, with all the usual features of street parades of horribles and grotesques, brass bands, decorated automobiles and vehicles, exhibitions by fire departments, basket picnics in convenient groves...[1]
As of 2005, many communities continue to hold them, especially in New England.
[edit] As a rhetorical device
A parade of horribles is also a rhetorical device whereby the speaker argues against taking a certain course of action by listing a number of extremely undesirable events which will ostensibly result from the action. Its power lies in the emotional impact of the unpleasant predictions; however, a parade of horribles is a logical fallacy to the extent that:
- The "horribles" are not likely to occur as a result of the action, an appeal to probability,
- The argument relies solely on the emotional impact of the "horribles", an appeal to emotion, or
- The "horribles" are not actually bad.
A parade of horribles is a type of hyperbole because it exaggerates the negative results of the action. It is similar to a slippery slope argument, but not identical. Whereas a slippery slope argument argues that, "If we do this, then the next thing we do will be this," a parade of horribles argues that, "If we do this, then ultimately all these horrible things will happen."
Example:
- "[Granting the rights of citizenship to blacks] would give to persons of the negro race, ... the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased, ... the full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went." Dred Scott v. Sandford, , 417, 450-451 (describing the ostensibly horrible results of granting blacks citizenship for purposes of filing suit for their freedom).
