Appeal to fear

Informal fallacies → Relevance / appeals

Appeal to fear is when you try to get people to agree by scaring them or threatening bad things—instead of giving a real reason for the claim or the course of action. Fear can motivate, but it doesn't show that something is true or that a policy is best. Threats and scare tactics bypass reasoning. The fallacy is to use fear in place of argument. The right response is to ask: what's the actual evidence or reason, apart from the threat?

Examples

  • If you don't back this plan, everyone will think you're disloyal and you'll get in trouble.

  • If we don't do this, we'll all lose our jobs.

  • Vote for me or your neighbourhood will become unsafe.

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