Poisoning the Well

Poisoning the Well discredits opponents before the audience receives their argument. Essentially the opponents are given a bad reputation and are consistently fighting an uphill battle to convince the audience of their argument.

An example would be, “Frank’s got terrible taste in music; I saw that he had Linkin Park on his iPod.” So every time Frank talks about music with people they won’t listen to him because he likes Linkin Park and they are trash.

Guilt by Association

This particular tactic of guilt tries to keep attention away from the main issue and instead divert it towards the reputation of others who support a particular claim. Reminding people that someone is associated with an unpopular person distracts the listener from the actual argument.

For example, “I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton; her husband’s presidency was nearly impeached, not to mention he is an adulterer.”

Attacking the Person

This method attempts to question the credibility of the person making an argument rather than attacking the argument itself. The fallacy lies in the perception that a dishonorable person cannot be trusted no matter what his or her claims may be.

For example, “He never even finished high school, don’t listen to him.”