Hey, Kudos to you for trying this tactic.
You invoked the power of someone more famous than you in an attempt to sway things in your direction. It takes a specially brave person to try and get away with this fallacy … or a specially stupid one.
Someone sent you this link ‘cos they think they know which of these you are…. can you guess which?
Nobody can win an argument with this approach, it is the last resort of someone who can sense that they are losing the argument, and feels out of their depth.
Here’s where you went wrong:
If you lack confidence in your ability to present an argument, then stop arguing. You may be correct, but you clearly lack the ability to present your argument in a convincing way. There is no point in invoking the charisma and power of someone famous who shares your view. They are probably not going to drop everything and come and defend you, so you just end up looking insecure and, well, a little foolish.
If it helps make it any clearer, this argument turns you into a sock puppet for someone who doesn’t even know you exist. They aren’t going to suddenly wiggle their fingers to make you nod at the right time, so you will lose the debate. You may even be correct in your views but still lose the debate simply because everyone else can sense your own lack of confidence.
You are in this argument alone, defend your point of view with logic or step off the podium and leave the debate to those with more confidence.
Of course, you could always accuse your opponent of exactly the same fallacy when they pointed you to this page 🙂
