Baculum, argumentum ad 17The fallacy of aphorism can also be used to support a pre-
conceived judgement against the evidence. If a politician we
support is caught cheating in examinations, or in a compro-
mising position with an intern, these are character-improving
situations. They steel him and test him, making him a fitter
candidate for office. For anyone else, of course, they would dis-
qualify them from office.
Since there are no cats in Tibet, this animal here, with the ears of a cat,
the tail of a cat, the fur of a cat and the whiskers of a cat, shows that
Tibetan dogs are pretty good actors.
(Not only that, they also catch mice and drink milk from a saucer.)It is generally unproductive, when using apriorism, to dismiss
the facts out of hand as untrue. After all, your audience might have
been there to witness them. You will go much further by reinter-
preting those facts, showing how they were not what they seemed.
Far from contradicting your contention, they really support it.
/ still maintain that the books I recommended were the most popular
ones. Of course I don't deny that they were the least read ones in the
entire library; but I take that as a sign of their popularity. You see, when
a book is really popular, people buy it or borrow it from friends; they
don't wait to borrow it from a library.
(At least the fallacy is popular.)Baculum, argumentum ad
When reason fails you, appeal to the rod. The argumentum ad
baculum introduces force as a means of persuasion, and is often
resorted to by those who would lose the argument without it.