Lines

"They have lines, right here, down their face. For some reason, people with Asperger's seem to look like me and have bags under their eyes. Like, they have this look on their face, like, you know, "fuck this", and that's how I look. That's the normal look...most people with Asperger's seem to have that look. That tired, been thinking too much, not getting enough sleep look."
-Linus, the Swedish Chef:



Song of the Day - Milord

Fallacy of the Day - Poisoning the Well

Poisoning the Well

This sort of "reasoning" involves trying to discredit what a person might later claim by presenting unfavorable information (be it true or false) about the person. This "argument" has the following form:

1. Unfavorable information (be it true or false) about person A is presented.
2. Therefore any claims person A makes will be false.

This sort of "reasoning" is obviously fallacious. The person making such an attack is hoping that the unfavorable information will bias listeners against the person in question and hence that they will reject any claims he might make. However, merely presenting unfavorable information about a person (even if it is true) hardly counts as evidence against the claims he/she might make. This is especially clear when Poisoning the Well is looked at as a form of ad Homimem in which the attack is made prior to the person even making the claim or claims.

Example: A mentally ill man is trying to tell you about a murderer a pedophile and a rapist. Don't listen to him. Only a crazy man would try to talk about murder, pedophilia and rape.

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