Highly Illogical

I made reference to a logical fallacy in my election-related rant a few days ago. It occurs to me that I might not have been able to recognize that fallacy for what it was, had I not recently received an e-mail detailing several such tactics. And now, as a public service, I'm going to share them with you, loyal readers. Now you, too, can recognize all the election year shysterism for what it is. You're welcome.

Let me share with you Geek Press' Excellent List of Logical Fallacies.

You'll need to click over there to read the whole list, but here are a few of my favorites:

Ad Hominem:
This is the best logical fallacy, and if you disagree with me, well, you suck.

Appeal To Majority:
Most people think that this fallacy is the best, so clearly it is.

Slippery Slope:
If you don't like Slippery Slope arguments, you will do poorly in class, drop out of school, commit crimes, go to prison, and die of AIDS.

Appeal to Fear:
If you don't accept Appeal to Fear as the greatest fallacy, then THE TERRORISTS WILL HAVE WON. Do you want that on your conscience, that THE TERRORISTS WILL HAVE WON because you were a pansy who didn't really think that Appeal to Fear was worth voting for, and you wanted to vote for something else? Of course not, and neither would the people you let die because THE TERRORISTS WILL HAVE WON.

These last two were the main components of the ad that triggered this whole thing. And now, my favorite:

Appeal To Force:
If you don't agree that Appeal to Force is the greatest logical fallacy, I will kick your @ss.

My work here is done.