The Eight Fallacies
A fallacy is a broken argument that still feels strong. Fallacies are not lies. A liar knows they are wrong. A fallacy fooler usually believes themselves. That is what makes fallacies dangerous in chacha-talk and in the…
There is more than one way to understand this. If you have only been taught one, you have been taught less than you deserve.
There is more than one way to understand this. If you have only been taught one, you have been taught less than you deserve.
A fallacy is a broken argument that still feels strong. Fallacies are not lies. A liar knows they are wrong. A fallacy fooler usually believes themselves. That is what makes fallacies dangerous in chacha-talk and in the WhatsApp groups your father is in. Today you learn to name eight of them. Once you can name a thing, it stops controlling you.
One. Ad hominem. Attacking the person instead of the argument. 'Tum kya batao gay, tumhari to abhi mooch bhi nahi aayi'. The cousin's moustache has nothing to do with whether his point about cricket is correct. Two. Straw man. Twisting somebody's argument into a weaker version, then defeating that weaker version. Your friend says 'I think we should reduce sugar in chai'. You answer 'oh so you want to ban chai entirely'. He never said that.
Three. Slippery slope. Saying that one small step will roll downhill into disaster, with no proof that it actually will. 'Agar larkion ko cycle chalane di to kal ko motorbike chalain gi, parson ko ghar nahi aain gi'. Each step needs its own evidence. Four. Appeal to authority. 'My doctor cousin said it, so it is true.' Doctors are wrong sometimes. So are professors, generals, and TV anchors. The argument has to stand on its own.
Five. False dilemma. Pretending there are only two choices when there are more. 'Ya to engineer bano ya doctor, warna kuch nahi banogay'. Pakistan has freelancers, designers, accountants, farmers, electricians, chefs, and a thousand other paths. Six. Hasty generalisation. Drawing a big conclusion from a tiny sample. You met two rude people from Multan, so you decide all Multani people are rude. That is two people. Multan has two million.
Seven. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. Latin for 'after this, therefore because of this'. Just because B happened after A, does not mean A caused B. Your team won the match the day you wore your blue socks; the socks did not win the match. Eight. Bandwagon. 'Sab kar rahe hain, isliye sahi hai'. Half of Lahore once thought a fake petrol price hike rumour was true and queued at petrol pumps for hours. Crowds are often wrong, calmly and confidently.
Estimated time: 15 min