Chewbacca defense
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A Chewbacca defense is the name given to a legal strategy in which the aim of the argument seems to be to deliberately confuse the jury rather than actually refute the case of the other side. The concept's name comes from an episode of the animated series South Park, "Chef Aid", which premiered on October 7, 1998. This episode satirised attorney Johnnie Cochran's closing argument defending O. J. Simpson in his murder trial. The term has since been commonly used in describing legal cases, especially criminal ones. The concept of disguising a flaw in one's argument by presenting large amounts of irrelevant information has previously been described as a red herring or the fallacy ignoratio elenchi (irrelevant conclusion).
Within the context of the episode, the fictional Cochran begins his defense case by basing his argument on the Star Wars film series, specifically on the (incorrect) claim that the character Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. He goes on to point out first the supposed senselessness of this decision, noting that "it does not make sense", and then how his use of Star Wars as evidence in a harassment suit "does not make sense" either, and that therefore the case should be dismissed. His closing argument "If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit" lampoons the real Cochran's "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit".
See also
- Argument from authority
- Big Lie, a propaganda tactic whereby an absurd statement is made with such conviction that the listener accepts it to be true, because it is counterintuitive for a normal person to make such an audacious statement without fear of being caught
- Enthymeme
- Fear, uncertainty, and doubt
- Idiot defense
- King Kong defense
- Newspeak, a fictional language from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was constructed, among other things, so as to make it easier drowning the opponent in meaningless, rapidly thrown arguments, without giving him a chance to respond.Template:Cn
- Non sequitur
- Price of eggs, an expression which is used to denote something which is unrelated to the current topic of discussion
- Reductio ad absurdum, disproof by an absurd conclusion
- Reverse psychology
- The Matrix defense
- Twinkie defense
- JetCorp fiasco