Your weekly logical fallacy: the fallacy fallacy

For this week you have activated my trap card! Yes it is the fallacy of all fallacies! You presumed that because a claim has been poorly argued, or a fallacy has been made, that the claim itself must be wrong.

It is entirely possible to make a claim that is false yet argue with logical coherency for that claim, just as it is possible to make a claim that is true and justify it with various fallacies and poor arguments.

Example: This example comes straight out of Ocean City Maryland and one group's efforts to legalize female toplessness. This group while well meaning made an Ad Populum (Appeal to popularity) fallacy by saying a lot of people support the notion of women being able to walk around topless on Ocean City's beaches. They say that this shows the changing morality and thus must be allowed. They neglected to argue parts of the law that mattered (eg freedom of speech or expression). This lead to the judge to rule against the motion and women can still get arrested for showing their breasts.

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