My Top 10 "Shaking My Head" Fallacies of Posters On This Site

*** DISCLAIMER: Sorry for what I'm sure will appear to biased against our liberal brothers and sisters, I promise it's not from a bad place.

1. "During My Research..."
   This one is probably my favorite, and the most common. I completely understand that everyone's definition of "research" may be different, but can we at least agree that reading Talking Points Memo, the Drudge Report's links, or whatever your favorite blog is, can't really be considered "research"?
   
   And no, your personal introspection is not considered research either.
   
   
2. Ad Hominem Attacks(Name Calling) E.G.: President Obama is a Marxist - so you can't believe anything he says.
   Why is this one so common? The theme of this site is "Deny Ignorance", but too many posters like to discredit arguments or ignore facts that don't agree with their way of thinking (aka remaining ignorant), and justify it by using Ad Hominem attacks against the source...
   
   
3. Straw Man Arguments - e.g.: "Paul Ryan wants to cut back government spending, why does he hate the poor so much that he wants to take away Medicare and Welfare?"
   Misrepresenting someone's position in an attempt to demonize them is really petty and only shows you're bias and lack of higher reasoning ability. If you can't argue the REAL point at hand, just don't argue. It's ok to not agree with someone but not be able to articulate it. Please quit making people's positions into something their not so you CAN argue.
   
   
4. Red Herring - e.g. changing the subject
   Q: "Should churches be required to marry gay people?"
   A: "I believe in Equal Rights".
   If you dont want to asnwer the question or discuss the subject, just shut the heck up, dont distract or deter the discussion to something else... it gets old and takes up too many posts.
   
   
5. Anecdotal Arguments - e.g.: Using an isolated personal experience or example instead of compelling evidence in the way of logic or reason.
   "I've been around enough Christians to know that most of them would like to punch gay people in the face"
   Believe it or not, but no matter how worldly you think you are, your experiences do not encompass all of possible experiences that people can have. And no, finding a single news story does NOT equal the reality for all.
   
   
6. The "Burden of Proof" - e.g. making someone who questions your point go find proof rather than the person making the initial claim.
   Post: "95% of the wealth is held by 1% of the people in this country"
   Reply: "Really? I doubt that considering we have such a large middle class, especially in the United States"
   OP Reply: "Go look it up, it's out there for anyone who wants to find it."
   If you don't have a source, please don't pretend you have facts. It's not on someone else to questions your points to "look it up".. it's on you to provide a source.
   
   
7. "Hate Groups / Hate Speech" - e.g. accusing anyone who disagrees with your point of view based upon an opinion or belief - especially when it's about morality issues of using "hate speech" or being part of a "hate group".
   Disagreement, even vigorously passionate disagreement, is not "hate". Hate is saying things like "Mitt Romney and the Republicans can die for all I care", not "I think gay marriage is wrong".
   
   
8. The Rich Are Greedy and Didn't Earn It
   The rich are no different than most people, and rich is a relative term. Too many posters seem to ignore how "rich" they are compared to people less fortunate than they are (Third World Countries Anyone?). Rich people work very hard in one way or another. They pay a price for their wealth - they've simply decided to trade one type of freedom for another.
   
   Life will never be fair - begrudging someone because they have "more" than you do is non-nonsensical and a giant waste of time. Humans gather for themselves - and the best and brightest will always gather more. There is no way to stop this, and it's not wrong. Nobody wants "rich" people to have less for the principle of them having less, they want rich people to have less in order so they may have more... see the irony in that?
   
   
9. Corporate Greed - e.g. "Corporations are greedy and only care about profits"
   Corporations are made of people - employees. Profits they make are the ONLY way to continue to employee those people, and it really is their entire reason for existence.
   
   NOBODY goes into business to lose money, and when you make money - that's called "profits". Most public companies have investors to answer to. Unlike the common fallacy portrayed here, investors are not just "bankers" but instead they are regular people that have 401k plans. In fact, most American's retirement plans are tied up in investments of ... you guessed it, the Corporations.
   
   
10. Global health conspiracies (i.e. "Chemtrails").
    When people make these claims (ignoring the simple and obvious answers) that "TPTB" are trying to some how poison us all with fluoride in our water and chem-trails over our heads, they forget that "TPTB" are not just "The Powers That Be" but also "The People That Be". They have to live here too. And unless they go through a lifetime of painstakingly exhaustive efforts to not go outside or drink the water... they're poisoning themselves too!
    
    People - even powerful people - even dangerously evil people, generally wont poison themselves and their families in order to execute some master plan that seems to also take entirely too long to execute.
    
    
11. The Globally large conspiracies involving whole governments (i.e. 9/11 was an inside job).
    Questioning the reasoning behind an event, and who was behind it is good. In fact, events like that rarely happen quite as simply as what is fed to the masses. But the overly complex conspiracies that seem to involve several tiers of government and/or hundreds to thousands of people is just ridiculous.
    
    A secret's ability to remain secret are inversely proportional to amount of people that know about the secret. The larger the conspiracy (hence the more people involved), the less likely it is to be true.
    

There we go, flame away. I know this will not be a fan favorite, and yes, I'm sure I've done some of these at times. But I felt like ranting, and ATS allows for that.

Oh, and you've never seen any of these used... then you're the one doing it.

My top 2 would be:

People whining about other members trends

People whining about conspiracy theorists posting conspiracy theories

I know its a rant but I love how you tie in several conspiracies that seemingly go against your believe.

If you have such major issues with the majority of the poster's.. Simply leave.. You are part of the reason I don't come to this site as much anymore..

Every single time i click the new topic fire hose, It's cluttered with all these damn rants.. How about this.. Stop wasting your time ranting.. ( not just you op) and start posting relevant content..

reply to post by gncnew

Sorry for what I'm sure will appear to biased against our liberal brothers and sisters, I promise it's not from a bad place.

How does this relate, at all, to someone being a "liberal" ?

Anyhoo... I do agree with some of your sentiments... but my friend, it actually sounds like you just don't want to here other peoples opinions. Which begs the question:

Why bother joining and using a site solely driving by user submitted opinion pieces?

reply to post by gncnew

TPTB are exactly TPTB, greedy evil people on important positions.
Eventually you will open your eyes, it's just a matter of time... Until then, avelanche is triggered, don't try to stop it or you'll end on the margins of history.

The problem with user content board sites is always logical fallacies.

"I believe in aliens and anyone who doesn't is either an ill-informed sheeple or part of the shadow government!"

It's how it goes.

Separate the wheat from the chaff and pick your battles.

You missed out looped citation, citation that cites somebody else that cites somebody else that cites......and so on.
What about the age old, link to the pseudo news site that has the same beliefs as you. Ie linking an article that speculates about 9/11 being and inside job, and use it as evidence for your belief.
Also, overuse of the word academic or expert especially when their expertise is in philosophy and they're trying to explain physics.
Finally the classic, I don't understand it so you're wrong. Similar to one of your points but (burden of proof). Just because you don't understand the point, how will citing something that says the same thing make it more true?

reply to post by zilebeliveunknown


that's sort of a fallacy too, thinks like 'open your eyes', things that imply that you are being brainwashed by some evil entity. Also the superiority it implies is dumb, like you're some master jedi who can see through mind control.

Nature of the beast...
Don't let it wind you up, it's not like anyone will change.

reply to post by Suspiria


I agree with what he says, it doesn't bother me or wind me up. This doesn't mean I can't dislike it.

reply to post by Xertious

No, quite the opposite, you're brainwashed, taking for granted what TPTB serves you blindly following their agenda.
With that said, in that context, you should open your eyes too

reply to post by zilebeliveunknown


Maybe you're the one brainwashed into thinking they're all powerful, so you remain fearful.
So, you want me to believe what you tell me, and not what they tell me? I think I'd rather believe what I want to believe rather than you wanting me to believe what you want me to believe that they want you to believe.

Why would the powers at be let me go to this site when jedi masters such as yourself help me open my eyes.

reply to post by Xertious

Sheeple, they are powerful because you give them support, you enjoy to be abused, you need someone to think instead of you cause clearly you aren't capable to think on your own.
I don't care, it's not my fault for your dumbness, just trying to point out that they does not wish you good.
In the end, I'm not superior, I'm not 'jedi master', just know that something is wrong with the system we living in.

reply to post by gncnew


Well said! I agree with your rant and it is irritating - but it's all part of this site and freedom of speech in general. I wouldn't want my opinion silenced just because some people disagree with me - so I would also have to fight for the rights of free speech to those who disagree with me and those who post the types things in your rant. It might actually be boring if we all agreed and in fact it is due to people debating against a lot of my beliefs that have forced me to rethink a great many things. But then again they presented facts or well thought out opinions so I guess it's not the same.

Oh, and I did not mean to imply that you were calling for having the things you ranted about silenced - I don't believe that was your point at all. Sometimes you just have to rant to get it off of your chest and there's nothing wrong with that.

reply to post by zilebeliveunknown


No, because the powers at be made me make those posts.
If I was brainwashing people, I'd let them think they weren't brainwashed and give them some false sense of superiority just so they're lulled into a false sense of security whilst all the time making you buy hot pockets.. Muhahahhahahaha

reply to post by gncnew




Is your top ten list related to Spinal Tap?

I generally have a nice time on here. UNTIL some jerk is a jerk to me when Im attempting to be nice even though they are a jerk and then I get a jerky mod response.Ive resolved not to be nice anymore.. and when called on it I will forward the private message I received.

It is funny how some can say whatever they want, but some can say nothing horrible at all and be threatened with a post ban. Must be a conspiracy.

Fallacies.. fallacies.. there are a LOT of fallacies.

Originally posted by Sinny
My top 2 would be:

People whining about other members trends

People whining about conspiracy theorists posting conspiracy theories

Yeah, those suck too, glad I'VE NEVER DONE THAT...

Originally posted by TechVampyre
If you have such major issues with the majority of the poster's.. Simply leave.. You are part of the reason I don't come to this site as much anymore..

Every single time i click the new topic fire hose, It's cluttered with all these damn rants.. How about this.. Stop wasting your time ranting.. ( not just you op) and start posting relevant content..

I dont only post rants, just the occasional one here and there...

So you're saying I should stop coming here because one of my 100's of brilliant posts wasn't to your liking? Hmm, seems a bit unfair to me!