Hello,
Hope you are having a good week!
Today, let’s talk about Nut Picking.
What is it?
The fallacious tactic of picking out and showcasing the nuttiest member(s) of a group as the best representative(s) of that group — hence, "picking the nut". [1]
Where does it occur?
This fallacy is committed when an arguer cherry-picks a poor representative of a group to use as an ad hominem against them.
For example, anti-feminists frequently paint people who support feminism as "feminazis" by highlighting examples of ridiculous or cringeworthy behavior from select individuals, rather than critiquing points addressed in mainline feminist writings.[1]
Why do I need to know?
Nut-picking combines elements of several other fallacies; it primarily relies on guilt by association as it seeks to tarnish a group's reputation by associating it with what the "nut" is saying or doing, knowing that their statements or actions are generally considered to be unacceptable, if not outright reprehensible.
Secondly, it is a type of ad hominem as it attacks an opponent's character (via the negative association), rather than countering the opponent's actual views or arguments.
References & Studies: -
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nutpicking
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/nutpicking-fallacy.html
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