Fallacy of Absolute Deprivation (also "Communism Killed Millions" Fallacy)

A form of fallacy that cites the absolute number of deaths attributed to communist regimes—typically the Soviet Union, China, or Cambodia—as an argument against any form of socialism or communist thought, while ignoring context, comparative analysis, or the question of what those numbers actually mean. The fallacy works by presenting large numbers as self-evident condemnation, as if the scale alone settled the matter. It ignores that all modern states have killed millions—colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, democracy—and that the question is not whether atrocities occurred but what caused them, whether they were inherent to the system or contingent, and what the alternatives were. The Fallacy of Absolute Deprivation is beloved of cold warriors and those who prefer moral simplicity to historical complexity. It reduces genocide to a statistic and uses that statistic to foreclose thought.

Fallacy of Absolute Deprivation (also "Communism Killed Millions" Fallacy) Example: "He ended every discussion of socialism with the same numbers: 'Stalin killed millions. Mao killed millions. Pol Pot killed millions.' The Fallacy of Absolute Deprivation meant he never had to engage with arguments about healthcare, wages, or working conditions. The numbers did all his work for him—never mind context, never mind comparison, never mind that capitalism had killed its millions too. Absolute numbers, absolutely weaponized."

by Dumu The Void February 20, 2026

Fallacy of Absolute Grievance

A fallacy that treats all grievances as equally valid—or equally invalid—by refusing to make distinctions of scale, context, or severity. The fallacy flattens all complaints into a single category, making it impossible to prioritize, to distinguish urgent from trivial, or to allocate attention appropriately. It's the logic of "everyone has problems, so your problem doesn't matter," of "both sides have grievances, so both are equally wrong." The Fallacy of Absolute Grievance is beloved of false-balance merchants and those who want to avoid taking sides. It ignores that some grievances are matters of life and death while others are matters of inconvenience, and that treating them as equivalent is itself a form of violence.

Example: "He responded to her account of systemic racism with the Fallacy of Absolute Grievance: 'Everyone faces discrimination. White people have problems too.' The equivalence was false, the balance manufactured. Her centuries of oppression were flattened into 'everyone has problems,' and suddenly no one had to do anything. Absolute grievance had made action impossible."

by Dumu The Void February 20, 2026