“Now it’s ‘The tobacco industry is getting into this, the tobacco industry is evil, therefore as a policy this is a bad idea, and anybody who argues otherwise is either an idiot or a tobacco industry poodle.’”
I have no doubt the tobacco industry is evil, by any reasonable definition of evil - what else should we call people who unrepentantly market and sell a product that kills 50% of its users when used as directed.
But... logical fallacies 101: the fact that someone is evil, or says something with an ulterior motive, does not mean that what they say is incorrect.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
02 July 2015
John D Scott
Physician
Waitemata Disctrict Health Board, Auckland, New ZEaland
Rapid Response:
Guilt by Association
“Now it’s ‘The tobacco industry is getting into this, the tobacco industry is evil, therefore as a policy this is a bad idea, and anybody who argues otherwise is either an idiot or a tobacco industry poodle.’”
I have no doubt the tobacco industry is evil, by any reasonable definition of evil - what else should we call people who unrepentantly market and sell a product that kills 50% of its users when used as directed.
But... logical fallacies 101: the fact that someone is evil, or says something with an ulterior motive, does not mean that what they say is incorrect.
Competing interests: No competing interests