05.30.06
Argumentum ad populum
A group of kindergartners are studying a frog, trying to determine its sex. “I wonder if it’s a boy frog or a girl frog,” says one student. “I know how we can tell!” pipes up another. “All right, how?” asks the teacher, resigned to the worst. Beams the child: “We can vote.”
This is argumentum ad populum, the belief that truth can be determined by more or less putting it to a vote. Democracy is a very nice thing, but it doesn’t determine truth. Polls are good for telling you what people think, not whether those thoughts are correct.
Herman said,
May 30, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Sorry to say that’s the phenomenon happened in HK.