Chewbacca defense
Encyclopedia
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
, "Chef Aid
Chef Aid
"Chef Aid" is the fourteenth episode of the second season of the animated television series South Park, 27th episode of the series overall. "Chef Aid" originally aired in the United States on October 7, 1998 on Comedy Central...
", which premiered on October 7, 1998, as the fourteenth episode of the second season. The aim of the argument is deliberately to confuse the jury by making use of the fallacy known as ignoratio elenchi
Ignoratio elenchi
Ignoratio elenchi is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question...
, or a red herring
Red herring
A red herring is a deliberate attempt to divert attention.Red herring may refer to:* Red herring , the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question....
. The concept satirized attorney Johnnie Cochran
Johnnie Cochran
Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. was an American lawyer best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal of O. J...
's closing argument defending O. J. Simpson in his murder trial
O. J. Simpson murder case
The O. J. Simpson murder case was a criminal trial held in Los Angeles County, California Superior Court from January 29 to October 3, 1995. Former American football star and actor O. J...
. The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
noted it as an example of Cochran's position in popular culture. The concept has become a minor Internet phenomenon, used frequently as a running gag on satirical sites and in forums as a form of rhetoric. In the original defense Cochran started by stating that Chewbacca
Chewbacca
Chewbacca, also known as Chewie, is a character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by Peter Mayhew. In the series' narrative chronology, he appears in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi...
lives on the planet Endor. After stating that this statement "does not make sense", Cochran continues to connect the senselessness of his own statement to the actual case, implying that it is equally senseless. His closing argument "If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must aquit" is lampooning his original "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit"
Origin
In the episode, Chef contacts a "major record company" executive, seeking only to have his name credited as the composer of "Stinky Britches". Chef's claim is substantiated by a 20-year-old recording of Chef performing the song, as well as a copyright held by MacElroy.The record company refuses, and furthermore hires Johnnie Cochran, who files a lawsuit against Chef for harassment. In court, Cochran resorts to his "famous" Chewbacca defense, which he "used during the Simpson trial", according to Gerald Broflovski.
This penultimate statement is a parody of Johnnie Cochran's closing arguments in the O. J. Simpson murder case
O. J. Simpson murder case
The O. J. Simpson murder case was a criminal trial held in Los Angeles County, California Superior Court from January 29 to October 3, 1995. Former American football star and actor O. J...
where he states to the jury: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit!" in reference to an earlier point in the trial when prosecutor Christopher Darden
Christopher Darden
Christopher Allen Darden is an American lawyer, writer, lecturer and practicing attorney. He was a 15-year veteran of the Los Angeles County District Attorney, where he was assigned to the prosecution of O.J. Simpson. Darden gained fame during the O.J...
asked Simpson to try on a bloody glove found at the murder scene and the glove turned out to be too small for Simpson to put on easily.
Similarly, in the episode, Cochran's defense is successful and the jury finds Chef guilty of "harassing a major record label", after which the judge sets his punishment as either a $2 million fine to be paid within 24 hours or, failing that, four years in prison (the judge initially sentences him to eight million years before being corrected by a court officer).
Ultimately, a "Chef Aid" benefit concert is organized to raise money for Chef to hire Johnnie Cochran for his own lawsuit against the record company. At the concert, Johnnie Cochran experiences a change of heart and offers to represent Chef pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
. He again successfully uses the Chewbacca defense, this time to defeat the record company and make them acknowledge Chef's authorship of their song. In the second use of the Chewbacca defense, he ends by taking out a monkey puppet and shouting, "Here, look at the monkey. Look at the silly monkey!" causing a juror's head to explode.
Usage
The Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
obituary for Cochran mentioned the Chewbacca defense parody as one of the ways in which the attorney had entered pop culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
.
Criminologist Dr. Thomas O'Connor says that when DNA evidence shows "inclusion", that is, does not exonerate a client by exclusion from the DNA sample provided, "About the only thing you can do is attack the lab for its (lack of) quality assurance and proficiency testing, or use a 'Chewbacca defense' … and try to razzle-dazzle the jury about how complex and complicated the other side's evidence or probability estimates are." Forensic scientist Erin Kenneally has argued that court challenges to digital evidence
Digital evidence
Digital evidence or electronic evidence is any probative information stored or transmitted in digital form that a party to a court case may use at trial...
frequently use the Chewbacca defense by presenting multiple alternative explanations of forensic evidence obtained from computers and Internet providers to raise the reasonable doubt
Reasonable doubt
Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the standard of evidence required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems . Generally the prosecution bears the burden of proof and is required to prove their version of events to this standard...
understood by a jury. Kenneally also provides methods that can be used to rebut a Chewbacca defense. Kenneally and colleague Anjali Swienton have presented this topic before the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
State Court System and at the 2005 American Academy of Forensic Sciences
American Academy of Forensic Sciences
The American Academy of Forensic Sciences is a professional society for people in all areas of forensics.For over sixty years, the AAFS has served a distinguished and diverse membership. Its nearly 6,000 members are divided into eleven sections spanning the forensic enterprise...
annual meeting.
The term has also seen use in political commentary; Ellis Weiner
Ellis Weiner
Ellis Weiner is an author and humorist who has previously worked as an editor of National Lampoon and a columnist for Spy Magazine. His humor has also appeared in The New Yorker, Paris Review, and the New York Times Magazine....
wrote in The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
that Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh D'Souza
Dinesh D'Souza is an author and public speaker and a former Robert and Karen Rishwain Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is currently the President of The King's College in New York City. D'Souza is a noted Christian apologist and conservative writer and speaker....
was using the Chewbacca defense in criticism of then new Speaker of the House
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
, defining it as when "someone asserts his claim by saying something so patently nonsensical that the listener's brain shuts down completely".
Jay Heinrichs' book Thank You for Arguing states that the term "Chewbacca defense" is "sneaking into the lexicon" as another name for the logical fallacy of the red herring
Red herring
A red herring is a deliberate attempt to divert attention.Red herring may refer to:* Red herring , the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question....
.
See also
- Argument from authorityArgument from authorityArgument from authority is a special type of inductive argument which often takes the form of a statistical syllogism....
- Big LieBig LieThe Big Lie is a propaganda technique. The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously." Hitler asserted the technique was...
, 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 - Chef AidChef Aid"Chef Aid" is the fourteenth episode of the second season of the animated television series South Park, 27th episode of the series overall. "Chef Aid" originally aired in the United States on October 7, 1998 on Comedy Central...
- EnthymemeEnthymemeAn enthymeme , in its modern sense, is an informally stated syllogism with an unstated assumption that must be true for the premises to lead to the conclusion. In an enthymeme, part of the argument is missing because it is assumed...
for an analysis of Cochran's logic - Fear, uncertainty, and doubt
- Idiot defenseIdiot defenseThe idiot defense is a satirical term for a legal strategy where a defendant claims innocence by virtue of having been ignorant of facts of which the defendant would normally be expected to be aware...
- Ignoratio elenchiIgnoratio elenchiIgnoratio elenchi is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question...
/ Red herringRed herringA red herring is a deliberate attempt to divert attention.Red herring may refer to:* Red herring , the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question....
, other forms of logical fallacy - King Kong defense
- Non sequiturNon sequitur (logic)Non sequitur , in formal logic, is an argument in which its conclusion does not follow from its premises. In a non sequitur, the conclusion could be either true or false, but the argument is fallacious because there is a disconnection between the premise and the conclusion. All formal fallacies...
, a form of logical fallacy - Price of eggs, an expression which is used to denote something which is unrelated to the current topic of discussion
- Reductio ad absurdumReductio ad absurdumIn logic, proof by contradiction is a form of proof that establishes the truth or validity of a proposition by showing that the proposition's being false would imply a contradiction...
, disproof by an absurd conclusion - Reverse psychologyReverse psychologyReverse psychology is a technique involving the advocacy of a belief or behavior that is opposite to the one desired, with the expectation that this approach will encourage the subject of the persuasion to do what actually is desired: the opposite of what is suggested...
- Twinkie defenseTwinkie defense"Twinkie defense" is a derisive label for an improbable legal defense. It is not a recognized legal defense in jurisprudence, but a catchall term coined by reporters during their coverage of the trial of defendant Dan White for the murders of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk and mayor...
External links
- Chewbacca defense on tvtropes - tvtropes.org
- The Chewbacca defense as seen in the episode - southparkstudios.com