One-sided assessment 121
(And if you asked them, they'd probably say the same about garot-
ting and disembowelment. They could be just as wrong or, indeed,
right.)The ad numeram is a fallacy to be used with passion. In its
ideal setting you would be haranguing a rabble of 600 people
armed with blazing torches outside a corn merchant's house
during a famine. Even in print, you should not turn an ad
numeram into a clinical counting of heads, but conjure up out-
rage that the obviously correct view of so many should be
ignored.
When your side is in an unfortunate minority, the technique is
to quote from the past, when your lot were on top, or from
foreign countries where you do have a majority to back you.
Sweden is an excellent source for majorities in favour of the most
bizarre things.
Are we to say that all Swedes are fools? That the people of the world's
most enlightened country don't know what they are talking about?
(Yes.)One-sided assessment
Many of the decisions we are called upon to weigh up have both
advantages and drawbacks. The fallacy of one-sided assessment is
fallen into when only one side of the case is taken into consider-
ation. Decisions usually require both pros and cons to be taken
account of, and a preference made for the side that wins on bal-
ance. To look at one side only is to avoid judgement of that balance:
I'm not going to get married. There would be all that extra responsibility,
not to mention the loss of my freedom. Think of the costs of raising