Information that is meant to distract and or mislead

 

Connection: 

This picture is a perfect example of a red herring in film. The image is of the character Sirius Black in Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban. He is believed to have helped murder Harry’s parents due to misleading information, the red herring provided by Peter Pettigrew. The man who truly got Harry’s parents killed. Almost every character, including Harry himself believe Sirius is guilty because they all have strong emotional connection to the subject of the parent’s deaths.

Playing up evidence for one’s own beliefs, while simultaneously playing down contradictory evidence and all opposing arguments even if those arguments have proof to be true.

 

Connection:

When someone has a discriminatory view, confirmation bias is most likely in play. For example if one thinks someone of a different colour, orientation, culture etc. than them is dangerous. At that point anything bad anyone of that group does, will be held against the people as a whole in the discriminator’s eyes. As wrong as that is it is sadly common.

Looking up to someone famous, or authoritative, and taking on their views as your own. Simply because that person said they believe it.

 

Connection:

When former USA president Donald Trump, was in charge at the beginning of the Covid19 pandemic. He had suggested the possibility of injecting or ingesting disinfectants such as bleach to cure the virus, instead of a vaccine. Many who idolized his views were arguing he might be right, some had even tried it. Simply because he had said so, even though any scientific research would have said not to.

When one’s argument is overly complex, needlessly so. So there is no way to reasonably argue with the person.

 

Connection:

Sometimes this red flag will come about by someone knowing they may be or are wrong, but still wanting you to think they are right. So they get more and more convoluted in their argument to confuse the listening party. Aggressively stating their “facts” wanting others to just nod and believe them because “oh if they’re using so many fancy explanations they must know their stuff”.

Believing that something that is “natural” is automatically good and or better than other products of the same type.

 

Connection:

Just because something is natural doesn’t mean its good. For example nuts are an “all natural” ingredient in most lotions, but if you have a nut allergy they are not good one bit. Life is not so black and white as “something is natural so it is automatically good” there are constantly different contributing factors.

Strong belief in someone or something based on spirituality rather than proof.

 

Connection:

In the TV show “The Walking Dead”, there is a character named “Father Gabriel” as he was a priest before the zombie apocalypse. This character is introduced as having let many of his own church’s followers die because he had blind faith he was doing the right thing in god’s eyes. This is a perfect example of how faith can cloud one’s  judgment.

A fact is something that is proven to be correct and true. Such as gravity being scientifically proven as the reason why we stay to the ground, instead of floating into space.

 

Connection:

Neil deGgrasse Tyson is a scientist, he makes a living on facts and proving what is true and what to be false. He has literally gone on stage and dropped the mic to make his point to non believers, that gravity exists. Or as he put it “That’s f****** gravity!” 

Having a personal connection with facts and or events, such as someone knowing how it feels to have undergone anesthesia because they have had surgery.

 

Connection:

When someone is scared about a dental procedure like a root canal for the first time, they will most likely be less scared the next time as they will believe everything will be ok because they have gone through it already. Hence having the experience to believe.

Proof by Verbosity to try and prove a point, all it will do is cause arguments and issues between all parties. Getting more aggressive about your point being right does not make it so. If anything it might make others feel you are just aggressively wrong, or overcompensating for the fact you know you have been beat.

Information:

The picture shows someone screaming very intently. On one hand this is not the way to prove a point properly, as it can make one appear childish, having a petty temper tantrum trying to force others to see their point of view. On the other hand some might feel the intensity of the argument might mean you are so sure that you must be right in the case being discussed.

 

Evaluating the Evidence:

In my own personal experience, I have fallen for this type of fallacy. The aggressiveness in the argument of the other person made me end up believing them. Simply because they had so much verbosity. Even when an argument is nonsensical, saying it louder can make others believe you. Then again, the person I ended up believing did turn out to be wrong, and turned out they had no idea about what they were talking about. Henceforth, you can mainly ignore someone trying to convince you with just proof by verbosity. They are usually talking nonsense, but regardless of how loud one is, pay attention to WHAT they are saying and not HOW they are sayin it. Sometimes people have good points, quite or loud.