Fallacies

The authority fallacy is when:

• a large number of people have participated in something and the statistic is used to endorse the activity or product (example: a million Australians trying Oral B toothpaste)

• there are only two possible solutions to a problem and you must pick one (example: live where you can eat breakfast at McDonalds or live in a dictatorship)

• a celebrity or other source of authority is used to "endorse" your argument even though that celebrity/authority is not legitimately connected to the argument (example: Alex Trebek as a spokesperson for an insurance product)

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An example of faulty causality is:

• 50 students are skipping 6th hour today so the teachers won't care if we skip.

• They serve chicken in the cafeteria every day so you can have chicken or eat nothing.

• I said I like snow so it snowed the next day.

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A faulty analogy is when:

• you assume that because two things have characteristics in common that they have everything in common

• a large number of people are doing something so you feel you should do it, too

• a celebrity endorses a product so you feel you can trust that the product is good or reliable

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Bill says Jenny would make a good class president, but Bill makes bad grades, so we shouldn’t vote for Jenny.

• Stereotype

• False Dilemma

• Personal Attack

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Dr. Fauci says we need to wear masks, but Dr. Fauci is the oldest, meanest doctor around. I’m sure what he says isn’t true at all.

• False Dilemma

• Appeal to Fear

• Personal Attack

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Sometimes kids ride skateboards and fall off, breaking their arms or legs. Clearly, riding a skateboard is extremely dangerous. Don’t you think skateboards should be banned?

• False Dilemma

• Personal Attack

• Appeal to Fear

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Either you can save your money to buy a new car for yourself, or you can just take an Uber around for the rest of your life.

• False Dilemma

• Appeal to Fear

• Personal Attack

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Kelly is the most selfish, annoying person that I know. She says that we should recycle to help save the Earth, but she only thinks about herself, so she must be wrong.

• Personal Attack

• Appeal to Fear

• False Dilemma

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What is wrong with Tanya? She only has five hundred dollars saved and she’s going away to college next year. That would be like letting my four-year-old brother go to Russia by hisself.

• False Dilemma

• Stereotype

• False Analogy

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If we can send a woman into outerspace and communicate with them while they are there, then surely we can learn to communicate with one another in our state.

• Stereotype

• False Analogy

• Categorical Claim

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