Half-concealed qualification 85
the distance between them. In daily life, however, we are less
rigorous, and the fallacy finds room to make a partial case seem
like a complete one.
Palm trees don't normally grow in England, so it must be something else.
(Normally he'd be right; but there are exceptions.)Social engineering is often proposed on the basis of incom-
plete assertions governing how humans generally behave.
Most crime is caused by juveniles, and nearly all young offenders come
from broken homes. The answer to rising crime is not more police, but
more family counselling centres.
(Maybe it is. Let's hope the staff have as many qualifications as the
argument does.)There is a common character trait which will help you to get
away with half-concealed qualifications. It expresses itself in a
readiness to think of cases which do fit, rather than of cases
which do not. On being given a limited statement, such as 'Most
bosses flirt with their secretaries', many people will find them-
selves thinking of cases which they have known. Few find their
thoughts led immediately to bosses who do not do this. You can
use this propensity to have more read into your assertions than
they are really claiming.
Just about every Cambridge man working in the Foreign Office or security
services in the late 7 940s has turned out to be a spy and a traitor. Why
don't we cut our losses, fire the rest, and not hire any more?
('Just about every' seems in this case to mean a handful, or maybe
three; but everyone will think of the ones they have read about who
were exposed, rather than about the others who were not.)