No, Walls Around Your House Aren’t an Argument for Border Walls
“If walls don’t work, then why does Barack Obama have them around his house?” It’s a stupid argument, made exponentially more stupid by the fact it has to be explained.
Let’s begin with the basic logic here: It’s an association fallacy. Some of A is B, and some of B is C, therefore A=C.
Put another way, the logic suggests: “Some security includes walls, some walls are for security, therefore all security requires walls.”
The notion that Obama (or anyone else with walls around their house) has them doesn’t mean that all houses need a wall to be secure. To illustrate, let’s flip the fallacy on its head. If walls are such a great requirement for security, then why doesn’t Trump have one around Trump Tower?
See how stupid it sounds in reverse?
There are legitimate reasons for there not being a wall around Trump Tower, and any idiot can recognize them, not the least of which is the geographical restrictions. For example, there’s a street in the way, so you don’t really have room for a wall.
Yet, is anyone going to argue that there is no security at Trump Tower?
Nor are all walls for security reasons.
Let’s look at a wall.
That’s a retaining wall and the purpose of it is to help prevent soil erosion. That’s not built to keep people out.
Here’s another wall:
These are interior. They exist within a house, and they’re primary purpose is to demarcate rooms, keep in heat, provide for shelter, etc. Sure, there is a door with a lock on it for people to get in and out, but a door is not a wall.
Here’s another kind of wall that the POTUS might get plenty of experience with in the near future:
That’s called a “prison wall” and it’s purpose is to keep people in. It’s there for security, but not the same kind of security.
Here’s another type of wall people put around their yards:
It’s a dog fence, and it’s purpose is to keep dogs in the yard, not keep people out of it.
Here’s another kind of Wall. His job is to get buckets. But that’s not what we’re talking about. Most walls you go over, but this Wall goes over you.
The other problem with the “Then why do you have a wall around your house?” argument is that most people don’t have a wall. At most they have a fence around the back yard.
Here’s a typical suburb: note the lack of walls. Just running through my head, I don’t know of anyone in my neighborhood who has a wall around his house.
Oh, and here’s Obama’s house. See the lack of walls?
The fact he doesn’t have walls around his house kind of puts the whole argument in its place, doesn’t it? Sure there are barricades and an iron fence in front, but nothing that can be reasonably called a “wall” on the scale of what is being proposed along the border.
So let’s recap. There are people who have walls around their house for personal security. They are in the extreme minority. Most people have security in their homes, like doors that lock or alarms, proving you can have security without walls.
People may have fences around their property, but that’s not usually to keep people out; it’s normally to keep pets and kids in. There might be some level of privacy incentive too, but no one puts a six-foot fence up and thinks they’re protected their property with it.
There are some people who might have enough money to cover the cost of anything approaching a security fence (about $20,000 per 350 linear feet for a six-foot, concrete wall), but most can’t afford that.
So how does all of this apply to a border wall? It doesn’t because personal property and national borders are so entirely different that it’s just dumb to make the comparison.
But even if you give a nod to the notion that sometimes walls make for good security, then that’s fine — as long as you’re also willing to acquiesce that sometimes they don’t.
For the most part, the existing barricade is doing the job it’s intended. There are gaps that need to be filled here and there, and there a few areas that need fencing, but nothing like the sea-to-shining-sea wall/barrier/slat extravaganza that Trump is dictating. Just as with his own buildings, there are places where a wall is impractical, and just as with many people, there are areas where it’s just inefficient in terms of cost.
So let’s stop parroting this silly argument, shall we?
