Faults in reasoning: Persecution fallacy
Going Into Overdrive
This is Going Into Overdrive Day 5. I have made it thus far and I am happy.
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Continuing from yesterday on fault lines in thinking and discussion, allow me to interest you with the persecution fallacy today. Or the Argumentum ad martyrdom.
The Persecution Fallacy (Argumentum ad martyrdom)
No doubt that we want to be right. There is no objection to the fact that everyone presumes the position they have taken on a matter to be the right one. You – if you are a proper human being, do not want to hold a position that you are certain is false. So we deploy different tactics to prove both to ourselves and others that our position is true, right, and correct.
Persecution of people for causes and beliefs is pretty common. And we have a long history of persecuted people – politicians, religious men, scientists, activists – who in hindsight were proven right. We can say objectively that such people were right and were persecuted for their causes even if their correctness did not appear so at the time.
Knowing this, many people in the present have resorted to using persecution as a test of truth or correctness. They believe that because they are being harshly criticised, aggressively hated, and are taking an unpopular position, then they are geniuses.
While persecution is real, criticism, hatred, and a minority stake is not the evidence of truth.
Some fellows in the feminist movement believe that because their cause generates rage from the opposition, then their positions are automatically correct. After all, their goals seem noble enough and the opposition are bad guys.
Remember that fault lines or fallacies are attempts that mimic the appearance of truth but they have no basis in reality.
“Argumentum ad martyrdom — I perceive that they don't like me, therefore I am correct.
—Tinker Grey”
In Christianity as well, people believe that attack and hate from the world is surely because they have the truth and the world is merely reacting against it.
In Islam, people use literal martyrdom as an evidence that their beliefs as true as no one would die for a false cause. A simple reply to this is that you believe that Cinderella is real and you being willing to die for that belief does not in fact make Cinderella real.
This faulty line of thinking makes the thinkers feels triumphant when they label their interlocutors as “reactionaries.”
All of this stated above does not make persecution a lie. Even still, people will definitely be persecuted for stating the truth. But persecution is not conclusive evidence that your position is true or correct. Persecution may call us to think or reconsider. But until it is causally proven, it is not evidence that your position or belief is true.
Beware of this fallacy for one reason: it clouds your judgement. It becomes hard to reflect on your claim, and leads you to double down if you are wrong.
A slight variation of the persecution fallacy is the “X set of people agree with you hence you are wrong” (where “X” is a demographic of people held in contempt). It is the appeal to spite.
Example below:
Thank you for reading.