Bad Appeal to Common Belief

Bad appeal to common belief is the idea that since everyone in a group does it then it is acceptable to do or believe. When I think of this fallacy I often see it as a negative yet very assuring way to convince someone. This reminds me of the old rhetorical saying that parents ask their children, “If everyone jumped off a bridge would you do it too?” Of course not! I see this type of fallacy everywhere. One example of bad appeal to common belief would be something that I saw in high school. Underage drinking is something that spread like wildfire at my high school. Many students felt that since other kids were doing it than it was alright to do, even though it is illegal. Many kids would convince others that it was alright to do because everyone was doing it. Another example of this type of fallacy having a negative effect would be the era of the civil rights movement. Many whites in the South were being prejudice to African Americans because everyone else was doing it. There were many people, especially Ku Klux Klan leaders, who fed off the fear of average white citizens and used this type of fallacy to gain support for their empty cause. Bad appeal to common belief is a bad yet powerful type of fallacy because it can sometimes be effective. If we arm ourselves by learning how to think rationally, then we can avoid being victims of fast talkers, swindlers, and those who use different types of fallacies like bad appeal to common belief.