But yes, the Fallacy of the Masses (a.k.a. Appeal to Popularity) is rampant in this area, and especially in the related area of Alternative Medicine.

Now, for Tim Cook to offer up his investments – perhaps he will establish a new direction for those CEOs rewarded with seemingly exorbitant salaries.

People argue points based on “Common Sense” but Common Sense runs the risk of complete and utter bias based on a person’s experience. As a result, I have little faith in Common Sense. As I become more exposed to the world around me I often wonder if Common Sense is a synonym for “Fallacy of the Masses” i.e. “Everyone believes X so X must be true.”

Without having much training in Logic I’ve been working on my personal deficit. When I run across arguments such as POM’s I try to figure out what logical fallacy is being committed.

I’m going to go with the Straw Man Fallacy. The courts argued POM cannot state the health benefits of their drinks as the benefits are not supported by evidence. POM then takes the courts comments out of context to support their initial contention of the alleged health benefits of their beverage.

I suppose they could simply be engaged in a specious argument, too.

Politicians commonly use the “Fallacy of the Masses” to garner support. The fact millions of people support candidates which engage the use of FOTM appears to indicate educational conditions exist which do not foster Logic or Reason when approaching any substantive topic.