Edit: for those who disagree, can you explain why? I don’t believe that “Trump is a convicted felon” tells us anything new except that a court found him guilty of a felony. I’m not trying to be pedantic here, but so what? If people are actually interested in the connotation avalanche that is attached to that label (such as ‘bad person’, ‘dishonorable’, ‘malicious’, etc) then why not just use those direct descriptions instead?
Because those are unsupported claims about his character, while noting his conviction (particularly given that he was covering up an affair) is specific evidence of his bad character. Moreover, it is evidence of a particular way in which his character is bad—he is not only willing to have an affair, but he’s willing to break the law to hide it.
If I tell you X is a bad person, that tells you nothing except my opinion of them. If I say “they were recently convicted of a felony for falsifying business records covering up an affair,” you can judge for yourself whether or not you think this fact reflects on their character or is worthy of punishment (ie by denying them your vote for President).
he is not only willing to have an affair, but he’s willing to break the law to hide it.
This too is another example of the fallacy I’m describing. The fact that OJ Simpson was acquitted of a double homicide doesn’t change my mind that he did in fact kill two people, all it tells me is that the legal system did not find him guilty of the allegations. If someone started every conversation about OJ with “exonerated celebrity football player OJ Simpson”, it’s obvious what connotations they’re trying to convey without having to communicate them directly.
Indeed, it’s the same fallacy.
Edit: for those who disagree, can you explain why? I don’t believe that “Trump is a convicted felon” tells us anything new except that a court found him guilty of a felony. I’m not trying to be pedantic here, but so what? If people are actually interested in the connotation avalanche that is attached to that label (such as ‘bad person’, ‘dishonorable’, ‘malicious’, etc) then why not just use those direct descriptions instead?
Because those are unsupported claims about his character, while noting his conviction (particularly given that he was covering up an affair) is specific evidence of his bad character. Moreover, it is evidence of a particular way in which his character is bad—he is not only willing to have an affair, but he’s willing to break the law to hide it.
If I tell you X is a bad person, that tells you nothing except my opinion of them. If I say “they were recently convicted of a felony for falsifying business records covering up an affair,” you can judge for yourself whether or not you think this fact reflects on their character or is worthy of punishment (ie by denying them your vote for President).
This too is another example of the fallacy I’m describing. The fact that OJ Simpson was acquitted of a double homicide doesn’t change my mind that he did in fact kill two people, all it tells me is that the legal system did not find him guilty of the allegations. If someone started every conversation about OJ with “exonerated celebrity football player OJ Simpson”, it’s obvious what connotations they’re trying to convey without having to communicate them directly.