Reply #52: Oh. My. God. How many times do I have to tell people this for CHRIST SAKE

[Political Heretic]

Okay let's go through this again.....

Arguments from authority are not logical fallacies.

Appeals to authority are not logical fallacies.

Arguments from or appeals to ILLEGITIMATE authority are logical fallacies.


So when someone says, I've lived and worked in the ME and I think that makes me more qualified to speak on culture than someone who has not - that's not a logical fallacy. It's no more a logical fallacy than someone saying "I happen to be a brain surgeon and that is why you should give credence to my opinion on brain surgery."

On the OTHER hand, if I say "here's my opinion on the ME and its more informed than yours because I did stay at a holiday inn last night" - that's an illegitimate claim of authority. Or if I said, "here's my opinion on the ME and you know, my good friend William Shatner agrees with me" - that would be an illegitimate appeal to authority, unless Bill Shatner is some expert on the ME and I don't know about it. :)