Scare Tactic

If you suppose that terrorizing your opponent is giving him a reason for believing that you are correct, you are using a scare tactic and reasoning fallaciously.

Example:

David: My father owns the department store that gives your newspaper fifteen percent of all its advertising revenue, so I'm sure you won't want to publish any story of my arrest for spray painting the college.

Newspaper editor: Yes, David, I see your point. The story really isn't newsworthy.

David has given the editor a financial reason not to publish, but he has not given a relevant reason why the story is not newsworthy. David's tactics are scaring the editor, but it's the editor who commits the scare tactic fallacy, not David. David has merely used a scare tactic. This fallacy's name emphasizes the cause of the fallacy rather than the error itself. See also the related fallacy of appeal to emotions.

Scapegoating

If you unfairly blame an unpopular person or group of people for a problem, then you are scapegoating. This is a kind of fallacy of appeal to emotions.

Example:

Augurs were official diviners of ancient Rome. During the pre-Christian period, when Christians were unpopular, an augur would make a prediction for the emperor about, say, whether a military attack would have a successful outcome. If the prediction failed to come true, the augur would not admit failure but instead would blame nearby Christians for their evil influence on his divining powers. The elimination of these Christians, the augur would claim, could restore his divining powers and help the emperor. By using this reasoning tactic, the augur was scapegoating the Christians.

Argument from Outrage

See Appeal to Emotions.

Appeal to Snobbery

See Appeal to Emotions.

Appeal to Pity

See Appeal to Emotions.

Appeal to Emotions

You commit the fallacy of appeal to emotions when someone's appeal to you to accept their claim is accepted merely because the appeal arouses your feelings of anger, fear, grief, love, outrage, pity, pride, sexuality, sympathy, relief, and so forth. Example of appeal to relief from grief:

[The speaker knows he is talking to an aggrieved person whose house is worth much more than $100,000.] You had a great job and didn't deserve to lose it. I wish I could help somehow. I do have one idea. Now your family needs financial security even more. You need cash. I can help you. Here is a check for $100,000. Just sign this standard sales agreement, and we can skip the realtors and all the headaches they would create at this critical time in your life.

There is nothing wrong with using emotions when you argue, but it's a mistake to use emotions as the key premises or as tools to downplay relevant information. Regarding the fallacy of appeal to pity, it is proper to pity people who have had misfortunes, but if as the person's history instructor you accept Max's claim that he earned an A on the history quiz because he broke his wrist while playing in your college's last basketball game, then you've committed the fallacy of appeal to pity. However, if you realize he didn't earn the A, but nevertheless you still give him an A, then you have not committed the fallacy, but you may have acted improperly.

Ad Misericordiam

See Appeal to Emotions.

Ad Baculum

See Scare Tactic and Appeal to Emotions (Fear).