Wednesday, June 09, 2004

I'm friends with the President / I'm friends with the Pope / we're all making fortunes / selling daddy's dope

There is probably a name for this fallacy, but I am too lazy to look it up. But y'know what irritates me? When pundits (political or otherwise) try to refute an opposing view by pointing to a stupid person who holds that position and then saying "Ha! See! That person holds the position stupidly! Therefore the position is itself stupid!"

Obviously, this manner of refutation is invalid, since any opinion, no matter how true, will probably have a multitude of idiotic adherents. Tell me your most deeply cherished views, and I'll show you a stupid person who agrees with you...



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