- Ad Hominem / Genetic Fallacy: Disputing a position or argument by criticizing its source. Universally esteemed by talk radio hosts as the highest form of reasoning.
- Straw Man: Disputing a position by exaggerating it, misrepresenting it, or otherwise distorting it. Putting negative spin on an opponent's ideas.
- "Argument" from Outrage: Self-explanatory, Political talk shows are often reduced to shouting matches where guests compete for the loudest volume and sharpest insults.
- Scare Tactic: Try to prove a point by scaring the reader or listener.
- Hasty Generalizing: Having more confidence in a conclusion than you should, based on a small sample. For example, thinking that all baseball players use steriods simply because a few have developed bulging neck muscles.
- Groupthink: Allowing loyalty to one's group to cloud one's judgment.
- Red Herring: This attention-span fallacy works best on people who are unable to stay focused long enough to notice that the question answered was not the question asked.
- Wishful Thinking: A refusal to acknowledge the truth. You might call it the Ostrich Fallacy.
- Argument from Popularity: Believing that if "everybody" believes it, it must be true.
- Post Hoc, ergo Propter Hoc: Just because two things happened around the same time doesn't mean one caused the other.
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