Reply To: THE PUZZLE OF MURDER-BY-GUN STATISTICS

[Gallup’s Mirror]

I know the [poisoning the well] fallacy well enough to understand…

You really don’t. Poisoning the well is a preemptive ad hominem. My criticism was neither.

…that you’re basically criticizing the provider of the chart rather than the chart itself. I guess that’s a combination of an ad hominem and poisoning the well.

Ad hominem is fallacious in dismissing an argument on the basis of some irrelevant claim about the person making the argument. The operative word is that the criticism is irrelevant.

Lack of scientific qualifications and conflict of interest are valid criticisms and completely relevant. This is why it’s reasonable to refuse Uncle Goober’s offer to remove your appendix merely because he is not a surgeon, and why Exxon-Mobile is a poor choice to educate the public on the science of human-caused climate change.