Epithets

The familiar fallacy of the epithet places a strongly derogatory label on a person, an idea, an institution, a point of view, or a course of action. The speaker intends to establish a judgmental bias in the mind of the hearer, so that the hearer will tend to accept the conclusion being offered or reject the one being attacked, without taking the trouble to examine the available evidence. A magazine article dealing with the U.S.-Soviet Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) used the title "Salt II-Blueprint for Disaster." After reading the article, one might have derived enough facts to make his or her own judgment, but the bias of the article showed clearly in the title. You can recognize the fallacy of the epithet quite easily once you start listening for it.