Fallacy Alert

straw man

attacking a distorted version of someone's argument you created rather than their actual argument, so that you can easily destroy it

ad hominem

attacking a person rather than their argument, and then claiming that their argument is false because they are a stupid/bad/immoral person

circular reasoning

When you're trying to prove something is true by presupposing it is true without providing any good reason or evidence

personal incredulity

when you don't understand someone's argument and then claim it is false just because you don't understand it

appeal to emotion

Attempting to manipulate an emotional response instead of using a valid argument based on reason and evidence to prove your claim

false dichotomy

when only two choices are presented as the only possible options, but in fact more than two choices actually exist in reality

red herring

when you try to divert attention away from the argument by changing the subject to a topic that isn't relevant to the issue

slippery slope

assuming, without good evidence, if "A" happens then "Z" unintended consequence will happen too, therefore we must not do "A”

appeal to authority

assuming something must be true because an influential or powerful person or organization claims that it is true (without any valid argument)