Logical fallacies

poisoning the well

You discredited them before they opened their mouth.

  • “Before Sam speaks, remember he’s been wrong before.”

    “Let’s hear it and judge the proposal.”

    This is aimed at the audience, not the argument—and it lands before there’s an argument.

A pre-emptive ad hominem. Its power is that it works before the claim exists, so the audience filters everything that follows through the frame you set.

How to answer it: name the move. “That’s about Sam, not the proposal” resets it, because poisoning only works while nobody points at it.

Before you read the next one, know that the author swears.

Random