Why We Mistake Persuasion for Proof — Authority, Emotion, and Popularity

✍️ Inspired by Logically Fallacious by Bo Bennett, PhD

(Direct quotations reproduced from the Academic Edition, 2020)

🧩 The Most Comfortable Kind of Wrong

If logic is the art of thinking clearly, fallacies are the art of being convincingly wrong.

Bo Bennett points out that the most dangerous fallacies are the ones that feel reasonable — especially when they flatter our emotions, heroes, or the comfort of majority opinion.

“Logical fallacies are deceptive… they often elude our critical faculties, making them persuasive for all the wrong reasons — sort of like optical illusions for the mind.”

That’s why understanding these next three — Appeal to Authority, Appeal to Emotion, and Appeal to Popularity — is so important.
They’re the pillars of most advertising, politics, and, let’s be honest, social media arguments.

👨‍🏫 1. Appeal to Authority — “Because the Expert Said So”

Bo defines it clearly:

“Insisting that a claim is true simply because a valid authority or expert on the issue said it was true, without any other supporting evidence offered.”

It’s not wrong to trust experts — it’s wrong to worship them.

📚 Example (from the book)

“Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and perhaps the foremost expert in the field, says that evolution is true. Therefore, it’s true.”

Bo explains why this is a mistake:

“Richard Dawkins certainly knows about evolution, and he can confidently tell us that it is true, but that doesn’t make it true. What makes it true is the preponderance of evidence for the theory.”

So the error isn’t listening to experts — it’s skipping the reasoning step that validates what they say.

💡 Bo’s Note of Caution

“Be very careful not to confuse deferring to an authority on the issue with the appeal to authority fallacy… Dismissing the counsel of legitimate experts turns good skepticism into denialism.”

He teaches that it’s reasonable to trust credible authorities provisionally — while staying open to evidence.

In short:
🧠 Think of experts as maps, not destinations.

❤️ 2. Appeal to Emotion — “When Feelings Pretend to Be Facts”

This one is as old as rhetoric itself. Bo calls it “substituting emotion for evidence.”

“When the emotions of anger, hatred, or rage are substituted for evidence in an argument.”

📺 Example (from the book)

“Are you tired of being ignored by your government? Is it right that the top 1% have so much when the rest of us have so little? I urge you to vote for me today!”

Here, emotion does all the heavy lifting.
No evidence, no reasoning — just outrage and hope tied together with a slogan.

Bo writes:

“This is a common tactic to play on the emotions of others to get them to do what you want them to do… The fact is, no evidence was given or claim was made linking your vote with the problems going away.”

🧠 The Science Behind It

Emotions aren’t bad — they’re shortcuts for survival.
But when used in arguments, they often bypass logic completely.
Bo calls it “optical illusions for the mind” because our feelings simulate understanding.

Example:

“How can you possibly think humans evolved from monkeys? Does my grandma look like a flippin’ monkey to you?”

That’s not logic — that’s laughter disguised as refutation.

🕊️ Bo’s Fun (and Philosophical) Footnote

He adds a “Fun Fact” in this section:

“The great Yoda once said, ‘Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.’ With all due respect to the cute, little, green guy, anger can be very powerful and effective, as well as lead to great things.”

Then he humorously notes that Yoda’s own statement commits a logical fallacy — the Slippery Slope.

👥 3. Appeal to Popularity — “If Everyone Believes It, It Must Be True”

This is one of the oldest tricks in the book — literally and figuratively.

“When the claim that most or many people accept a belief as true is presented as evidence for the claim.”

Bo labels it with its Latin name: argumentum ad populum.

🧱 Example (from the book)

“Up until the late 16th century, most people believed that the earth was the center of the universe. This was seen as enough of a reason back then to accept this as true.”

And his conclusion is timeless:

“Accepting another person’s belief, or many people’s beliefs, without demanding evidence as to why that person accepts the belief, is lazy thinking and a dangerous way to accept information.”

💬 Modern Version: The Internet Echo Chamber

Social media has turned this fallacy into an art form.
When we scroll through posts that all agree with us, we start believing that truth = consensus.

Bo predicted this behavior perfectly in his Preface:

“Most of us get our ‘news’ from social media and heavily-biased media sources that we choose based on what confirms what we already believe to be true. This creates an echo chamber.”

That’s the bandwagon effect turning into a logical fallacy — when you move from “many people believe this” to “therefore, it must be true.”

🪶 Exception: When the Crowd Is Competent

Bo offers a reasonable nuance:

“Sometimes there are good reasons to think that the common belief is held by people who do have good evidence for believing.”

For example, if nearly all physicists agree that gravity exists, that’s not an appeal to popularity — that’s trust in expert consensus based on shared evidence.

So it’s not who believes it that matters — it’s why they believe it.

🧠 Why These Fallacies Fool Us

All three — Authority, Emotion, Popularity — prey on the same weakness:
We’d rather feel certain than be right.

Appeals to Authority comfort us with expertise.
Appeals to Emotion comfort us with passion.
Appeals to Popularity comfort us with belonging.

Bo Bennett’s whole mission is to get us to trade comfort for clarity.

“Being able to identify errors in reasoning, known as logical fallacies, is a way that you can do your part to bring more truth back into our ‘post-truth world.’”

💡 Quick Recap

Fallacy	Description	Bo Bennett’s Example	Why It’s Wrong
Appeal to Authority	Trusting a claim only because an expert said it	“Dawkins says evolution is true.”	Experts can err; evidence is what matters.
Appeal to Emotion	Using feelings instead of facts	“Vote for me because you’re angry.”	Emotion persuades, but doesn’t prove.
Appeal to Popularity	Assuming truth because many believe it	“Everyone thought Earth was center.”	Consensus ≠ correctness.

🚀 Call to Action: Question the Comfort

When you hear a claim that feels comfortably right, pause.
Ask yourself: “Is this true — or just familiar?”
Don’t confuse credibility, passion, or popularity with proof.
When in doubt, remember Bo’s advice: “Question authority — or become the authority that people look to for answers.”

🔖 Reference:

Bo Bennett, PhD (2020). Logically Fallacious: The Ultimate Collection of Over 300 Logical Fallacies (Academic Edition). Archieboy Holdings LLC.