False Equivalence Fallacy: Vet or Prison?
Duchess can be so dramatic...
It may be a vet, but to Duchess it feels like imprisonment of the mind, body and soul!! And to make things worse, the cat in the cell next to her thinks she's a prison guard!
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False Equivalence in a Nutshell
The False Equivalence fallacy is when two things are treated as the same because they share a feature or two, while ignoring everything that makes them completely different.
Duchess is at the vet. She has decided this is prison. The cage? Prison. The needles? Torture. The waiting? Rotting in a cell. Her neighbour in the next kennel points out that this is, in fact, the vet. Duchess is not interested in this distinction. Same thing. They lock you up, poke you with needles, and leave you to rot.
There are some similarities. There are also some very significant differences — like whether you leave healthier than you arrived. That's the fallacy. Two things can share surface features and still be completely, fundamentally different.
Duchess is going home with flea treatment and a clean bill of health. She will not be acknowledging this.
See all 24 fallacies in What Are the Most Common Logical Fallacies?
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