I want to eventually retitle this “Guilt by Association Fallacy” (or something)
Please do! Please do! “The Worst Argument in the World” is the Worst Name for an Argument in the World. It’s like someone describing a film as “the best film ever made”, when all it is is the most recent one they saw that made a big impression.
And while I’m on the subject, “Fundamental Attribution Error” is just as bad. Could people practice calling it the Trait Attribution Error instead?
Agreed. For me it brings to mind Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World” segment, which is not a good sign. It’s not so bad if it’s done with a wink in a one-off blog post, but I wouldn’t want it to stick or be used more widely.
“Worst Argument in the World” seems like a particularly inappropriate label here, because it’s generous to even call these sorts of slogans “arguments.” Saying “Abortion is murder!” or “Evolutionary psychology is sexist!” is, at best, a vague gesture in the direction of an argument. There may be a coherent argument somewhere in that approximate direction, but if all you’re doing is attaching a one-word label (“it’s murder!”) and leaving the rest implicit then you’re probably just talking to System 1 (activating emotions and associations). As a dismissive put-down of this tactic, “that’s not even an argument” seems more apt than “that’s the worst argument in the world.”
Please do! Please do! “The Worst Argument in the World” is the Worst Name for an Argument in the World. It’s like someone describing a film as “the best film ever made”, when all it is is the most recent one they saw that made a big impression.
And while I’m on the subject, “Fundamental Attribution Error” is just as bad. Could people practice calling it the Trait Attribution Error instead?
Agreed. For me it brings to mind Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World” segment, which is not a good sign. It’s not so bad if it’s done with a wink in a one-off blog post, but I wouldn’t want it to stick or be used more widely.
“Worst Argument in the World” seems like a particularly inappropriate label here, because it’s generous to even call these sorts of slogans “arguments.” Saying “Abortion is murder!” or “Evolutionary psychology is sexist!” is, at best, a vague gesture in the direction of an argument. There may be a coherent argument somewhere in that approximate direction, but if all you’re doing is attaching a one-word label (“it’s murder!”) and leaving the rest implicit then you’re probably just talking to System 1 (activating emotions and associations). As a dismissive put-down of this tactic, “that’s not even an argument” seems more apt than “that’s the worst argument in the world.”