One of the
FallaciousArguments, wherein it asserted by the speaker that:
- Speaker's position is the "right", "correct", "best" position, etc.
- Furthermore, the goodness of the speaker's position should be evident to anyone with half a brain.
- To actively oppose that which is good makes one EvIl.
- Due to the manifest and obvious goodness of the speaker's position found in premise #2--anyone who believes that another position is better must be stupid.
- To oppose the speaker's position therefore means that a) the opponent is opposing that which is good; or b) is too dumb to tell the difference
Therefore
Opponents of the speaker's position are either evil or stupid. [Usually unspoken follow-on: Which one are
you?]
This arguments is fallacious because either of the first two premises (on which the whole argument is based) could be wrong -- either the speaker's position could be incorrect, or there could be reasonable disagreement on the question; or there could be no clear way to discern what is best. Usually, users of E
vilOrStupid want to deflect attention from
these deficiencies; and therefore use E
vilOrStupid to put the opponent on the defensive.
E
vilOrStupid is a type of
AdHominem attack; as it shifts the topic of argument from the question at hand (the merits of some X) to the merits of the opponent.
One clever retort to E
vilOrStupid is to note the following:
- A person who is both evil and stupid will a) wish to oppose that which is good, and b) not be able to tell the difference.
- Such a person will conclude that !X (where X is the speaker's position) is the best one (because he is stupid), and therefore support !!X (because he is evil).
Therefore
A person who is both
EvilAndStupid might well agree with the speaker!
Obviously, this argument is as fallacious (if not more so) than the E
vilOrStupid argument above. But it's amusing nonetheless...
It's reminiscent of a scene from ThePrincessBride called the BattleOfWits.
See:
FallaciousArgument,
FalseDichotomy