False attribution

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The fallacy of a false attribution occurs when an advocate appeals to an irrelevant, unqualified, unidentified, biased or fabricated source in support of an argument. A contextomy is a type of false attribution. The advocate may in some cases have a "half-hearted" degree of faith in the alleged source (he or she may have a dim recollection of having read something somewhere about the topic), or the advocate may deliberately cite a source out of context, or even fake knowledge of a source which he or she knows does not exist. The technique is commonly used in movie advertisements quoting critics and political campaign ads attempting to smear opponents by taking quotes out-of-context.

[edit] Examples

• This example comes from associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Peter Doran. He was the subject of a false attribution:

Doran was the lead author of a research paper about Antarctic temperatures that was published in the journal Nature in January 2002. Because he and his colleagues found that some parts of Antarctica had cooled between 1986 and 2000, his paper has been frequently cited by opponents of the global warming theory, such as Ann Coulter and Michael Crichton. In an opinion piece of the July 27, 2006 New York Times, Doran characterized this as a "misinterpretation" and stated, "I have never thought such a thing ... I would like to remove my name from the list of scientists who dispute global warming." "Scientific findings run counter to theory of global warming," said a headline on an editorial in The San Diego Union-Tribune. One conservative commentator wrote,"It’s ironic that two studies suggesting that a new Ice Age may be under way may end the global warming debate."

• President George W Bush is the frequent victim of false attributions. This "Bushism" is from Slate magazine's Bushism of the Day:

"That's George Washington, the first president, of course. The interesting thing about him is that I read three—three or four books about him last year. Isn't that interesting?"—Showing German newspaper reporter Kai Diekmann the Oval Office, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2006."

The whole quote actually reads:

"... Isn't that interesting? People say, so what? Well, here's the "so what." You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you're gone. If they're still analyzing the presidency of George Washington -- (laughter.) So Presidents shouldn't worry about the history. You just can't. You do what you think is right, and if you're thinking big enough, that history will eventually prove you right or wrong. But you won't know in the short-term."

• "58% of people make statistics up on the spot" is a false attribution that is commonly used to illustrate the concept with humorous intent.

[edit] External links and references

• False Attribution @ Humbug! Online.
• Bushisms @ Humbug! Online.
• Cold, Hard Facts by PETER DORAN Thursday, 27 July 2006, in the Amherst Times
• Quoting Out of Context Fallacy Files.