The "Bathroom Bill" Meme: Addressing Thomas Lee Benson's Story
http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2012/02/24/the-bathroom-bill-meme-addressing-thomas-lee-bensons-story/2/24/12
Autumn Sandeen
There is a logical fallacy called Argument By Generalization, where a broad conclusion from a small number of perhaps unrepresentative cases occurs. And, there is a related logical fallacyArgument By Selective Observation, which is also called Cherry Picking. It's the enumeration of circumstances that support ones point of view, or as the philosopher Francis Bacon described it, counting the hits and forgetting the misses.
There is also a logical fallacy called Argument Ad Nauseam where one repeats something over and over again with the goal of having people believe it's true. When that oft repeated something becomes to be perceived to be true...well, the English word for such a perceived "fact" is called a factoid, which
Dictionary.com defines as:
something fictitious or unsubstantiated that is presented as fact, devised especially to gain publicity and accepted because of constant repetition.
