| apple polishing | A pattern of fallacious reasoning in which flattery is disguised as a reason for accepting a claim.
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| common practice, "argument" from | Attempts to justify or defend an action or a practice on the grounds that it is common--that "everybody," or at least lots of people, do the same thing.
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| envy, "argument" from | Trying to induce acceptance of a claim by arousing feelings of envy.
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| force, "argument" by | Using a threat rather than legitimate argument to "support" some "conclusion."
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| group think fallacy | Fallacy that occurs when someone lets identification with a group take the place of reason and deliberation when arriving at a position on an issue.
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| guilt trip | Trying to get someone to accept a claim by making him or her feel guilty for not accepting it.
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| nationalism | A powerful and often fierce emotional attachment to one's country that can lead a person to blind endorsement of any policy or practice of that country. ("My country, right or wrong!") It is a subdivision of the group think fallacy.
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| outrage, "argument" from | An attempt to persuade others by provoking anger in them, usually by inflammatory words, followed by a "conclusion" of some sort.
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| peer pressure "argument" | A fallacious pattern of reasoning in which you are in effect threatened with rejection by your friends, relatives, etc., if you don't accept a certain claim.
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| pity, "argument" from | Supporting a claim by arousing pity rather than offering legitimate argument.
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| popularity, "argument" from | Accepting or urging others to accept a claim simply because all or most or some substantial number of people believe it--to do this is to commit a fallacy.
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| rationalizing | Using a false pretext in order to satisfy our desires or interests.
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| red herring | See smokescreen.
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| relativism | The view that two different cultures can be correct in their differing opinions on the same factual issue.
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| scapegoating | Placing the blame for some bad effect on a person or group of people who are not really responsible for it, but who provide an easy target for animosity.
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| scare tactics | Trying to scare someone into accepting or rejecting a claim. A common form includes merely describing a frightening scenario rather than offering evidence that some activity will cause it.
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| smokescreen | An irrelevant topic or consideration introduced into a discussion to divert attention from the original issue.
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| subjectivism | The assumption that what is true for one person is not necessarily true for another.
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| tradition, "argument" from | "Arguing" that a claim is true on the grounds that it is traditional to believe it is true.
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| two wrongs make a right | This pattern of fallacious reasoning: "It's acceptable for A to do X to B because B would do X to A," said where A's doing X to B is not necessary to prevent B's doing X to A.
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| wishful thinking | Accepting a claim because you want it to be true, or rejecting it because you don't want it to be true.
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