logical fallacies

you're being manipulated and you don't know it

every day, you encounter arguments designed to bypass your rational thinking. politicians use them. advertisers use them. your friends and family use them — usually without knowing it. logical fallacies are flawed reasoning patterns that sound convincing but fall apart under scrutiny. and if you can't identify them, you're vulnerable to every con artist, manipulator, and careless thinker you encounter.

the ones you need to know first

ad hominem: attacking the person instead of their argument. "you can't talk about fitness, you're overweight." the speaker's weight has nothing to do with whether their argument about exercise science is correct.

appeal to authority: assuming something is true because an expert said it. experts can be wrong, biased, or speaking outside their expertise.

straw man: misrepresenting someone's argument to make it easier to attack. "you think we should reduce military spending? so you want our country to be defenseless?"

slippery slope: claiming one event will inevitably lead to extreme consequences. "if we allow this minor policy change, society will collapse."

false dichotomy: presenting only two options when more exist. "you're either with us or against us." reality is almost never that binary.

why this matters practically

once you learn these patterns, you start seeing them everywhere. in news commentary, in social media debates, in workplace arguments, in sales pitches. you become harder to manipulate, better at evaluating claims, and significantly more effective at constructing your own arguments.

the assignment

look up a comprehensive list of logical fallacies — wikipedia has an excellent one. study the top fifteen. then for the next week, try to identify at least one fallacy per day in the media you consume or conversations you have. you'll be disturbed by how common they are. you'll also be grateful you finally see them.

if this resonated, share it with someone who needs to hear it.