Fallacy of the Relative Exception (Fallacy of "All Other Alternatives Are Worse")

A fallacy that defends a flawed position by comparing it to even worse alternatives, without ever addressing the flaws themselves. "Sure, our healthcare system is broken, but at least it's not as bad as Country X." The fallacy doesn't solve the problem; it just points to someone else's greater problems as a reason to accept one's own. This is the logical skeleton of the "lesser evil" argument, of "it could be worse," of every defense of the status quo that never actually defends the status quo—it just points to something worse. The fallacy ignores that the existence of worse alternatives does not make a bad alternative good, and that the goal should be improvement, not comparison. It's the favorite fallacy of those who benefit from things staying exactly as they are.

Fallacy of the Relative Exception (Fallacy of "All Other Alternatives Are Worse") Example: "She pointed out the corruption, the inequality, the failing infrastructure. He responded with the Fallacy of the Relative Exception: 'But look at Country Y—they have it so much worse.' The problems she listed remained unaddressed, unsolved, untouched. The existence of somewhere worse was supposed to make her somewhere better. It didn't."

by Abzugal February 21, 2026

Alternative Epistemologies

Ways of knowing that operate outside or alongside the dominant Western scientific-academic framework. These aren't just different beliefs—they're different methods for arriving at beliefs. Indigenous knowledge passed through generations of observation and story. Embodied knowledge that lives in practice rather than propositions. Intuitive knowledge that patterns information below conscious awareness. Alternative epistemologies aren't necessarily better than dominant models, but they're not simply worse versions of them either—they're different tools for different kinds of understanding, evolved in different contexts for different purposes.

Alternative Epistemologies "Western medicine treats my body like a machine to be fixed. My healer's epistemology treats it like a garden to be tended. They're not even playing the same game—that's what makes it an Alternative Epistemology, not just a different opinion."

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 22, 2026