Fallacy of General Privation

A fallacy where someone makes a vague, general accusation of harm or failure—"this system causes suffering," "this idea has negative consequences," "these people have done bad things"—without specifying what harm, to whom, under what conditions, or compared to what alternatives. The accusation is broad enough to be unfalsifiable and vague enough to avoid evidence. General Privation trades on the emotional power of "harm" without the intellectual work of demonstrating it. It's the rhetorical equivalent of "something bad happened somewhere, therefore your point is invalid." The privation is asserted, not demonstrated; generalized, not specified; weaponized, not analyzed.

"Every time I try to discuss economic policy, someone says 'Capitalism causes suffering.' That's the Fallacy of General Privation—vague enough to be unanswerable, broad enough to shut down discussion, and completely useless for actual policy analysis. What suffering? Where? Compared to what? The generality is the point—it's a conversation-ender, not a contribution."

by Dumu The Void February 24, 2026

Fallacy of Special Privation

A fallacy where someone applies standards of privation—demands to account for harm, suffering, or failure—selectively, demanding that one system or idea be judged by its worst outcomes while exempting another system from the same standard. "Religion has caused wars, therefore religion is evil" from someone who ignores wars fought for secular ideologies. "Science has been wrong before, therefore science isn't trustworthy" from someone who trusts science when it confirms their biases. "Your side has bad people" from someone whose side also has bad people, but that doesn't count. Special Privation is hypocrisy in logical form: the harms that matter are the harms your opponents cause; your side's harms are justified, minimal, or irrelevant.

"He spent an hour listing every harm caused by organized religion throughout history. When I mentioned secular atrocities, he said 'That's different—those weren't really about ideology.' That's Fallacy of Special Privation: one standard for them, another for us. The privation is special because it only applies to people we don't like."

by Dumu The Void February 24, 2026