Ad populum fallacy – Impact on People, Truth And Reality

Ad populum fallacy has a wide impact on people, truth and reality though it is not a truth

Ad populum fallacy has a power of creating a lot of stir and situational movement

Before accepting any argument or idea as truth, a deep research is important

Ad populum fallacy is a delusionary activity that has sometimes a very serious impact. At the time, it goes viral. It is a fallacy related to an argument. In this case, an argument reaches to such a popularity level that the idea quoted is treated as a proof of its truth. It is something you start calling as truth because you have got to know about it through so many sources. This happens mostly in case of an incident related to the world of politics or celebrities. A rumor about a celebrity is spread so virally that it eventually starts being treated as a truth. The general impression in masses goes as a fact and reality although the rumor never got vetted by anybody. Ad populum fallacy creates quite a riskful eventualities depending on the argument or idea. The impact on people, truth and reality are worth understanding in this case.

Photo credit: Mark Klotz via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC

Ad populum fallacy usually is the result of excessive exposure to media. It might happen for gaining popularity faster. Most possibly, even the facts are not verified presented in an argument or idea. The argument spreads at a faster pace and within no time, it becomes the talk of the town. The faster spread through multiple sources puts a larger impact on people, truth and reality. Most of the people think about this argument or idea as a truth. Thereafter a further spread through word of mouth goes viral. The more it spreads the more it goes viral. The more it goes viral, the more it spreads. The news speeds up to such an extent that within no time it is on the top of agenda for everyone.

Truth has no meaning in the case of ad populum fallacy. Since it has not been verified it takes a backseat. But still it presents itself as a truth. People start believing in the idea spread in this fashion. The belief itself is taken as an evidence and hence every point mentioned in the argument or idea becomes a point of truth. The trust appears as an evidence of truth because so many persons are telling the same thing repeatedly. Although the fact remains that there is no proof or evidence of what has been presented in the argument or idea.

Photo credit: Mark Klotz via VisualHunt / CC BY-NC

The reality stays far from the fact in such cases. Popularity and spread of the message become the truth factor for such an argument or idea. The masses start believing in the idea only because it is widely spread on various platforms and by so many people. Social media and media, in general, play a major role in ad populum fallacy. A learning from this is to be aware of the facts before believing in an argument of an idea as truth. Sometimes, the impact is long lasting and threatful.

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