Appeal to the minority

{{logic}}

:''If you're looking for a logical fallacy involving minority groups, see [[Appeal to identity]].''

{{cquote|Anti-conformity is no excuse for believing in [[bullshit]]..|||An anonymous YouTube commenter}}

An '''appeal to minority''' is a [[logical fallacy]] that occurs when something is asserted to be true because most people ''don't'' believe it. It is the opposite of an ''[[argumentum ad populum]]''.

The fallacy is an [[appeal to authority]] and a [[conditional fallacy]].

==Alternate names==
*Authority of the select few
*Snob appeal

==Form==
{{syl
|2='''X''' is a minority view (as compared to majority view '''Y''').
|4=Minority views are more true than majority views.
|5=C|6='''X''' is more true than '''Y'''.
}}

==Examples==
*[[Galileo gambit|They laughed at Galileo, and they laugh at me. I must be right!]]
*This goes against everything your parents, your teachers, and pretty much everyone else have always believed. It must be true!
*Just like [[Copernicus]], we in the [[Flat Earth Society]] are willing to defy the wrong-headed [[scientific]] orthodoxy of the mainstream scientific community.
*Be original. Drink Dr. Pepper!<ref>https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f5/53/ff/f553ffe8674e462ec1543d4bff2de7bf.jpg</ref><ref group="note">Isn't it funny how all those ads for products that let you be original tell you ''exactly how'' to be original?</ref>
*I liked this band before they became mainstream<ref>Or was it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsqSh1b9bQw the other way round]? (song in German only)</ref>
*<nowiki>I support [country with widely condemned military actions] because I refuse to be a mindless cheerleader for [victim of previously said country's actions].</nowiki>
*<nowiki>I do not support protecting the rights of [minority group] because companies do.</nowiki>
==Irony==
{{main|Irony}}
An appeal to the minority is inherently limited. If someone successfully persuades other people that they are right, then their opinion would increasingly lose its minority status — and eventually would become majority opinion.

If this actually worked every time that someone used it, then this would cause an infinite loop. This loop would continue until only 2 theories existed, with equal followers, and would restart as soon as one person changed their mind.

==Second-option bias==
'''Second-option bias''' is the (supposed) prevalence of [[fringe]]/counterculture groups to assume that any widely-held opinion among the general population must be untrue, and therefore the prevailing contrary opinion must be right. Second-option bias often presumes that the general populace is stupid or informed by [[propaganda]], [[Genetic fallacy|which apparently makes their opinions incorrect]]. The term comes from a 2012 comment made by reddit user douglasmacarthur in the subreddit circlebroke.<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/circlebroke/comments/yngzi/comment/c5x6adc/ </ref>

Second-option bias is an especially fallacious form of appealing to the minority in that, while the "first option" may be false (or less than true), [[False dichotomy|this does not automatically prove the "second option" true]].

Examples of second option bias are:
*An [[American]] who rejects the consensus reporting of [[MSNBC]], [[CNN]], and [[Fox News]] on some story and says [[RT]], [[The Daily Stormer]], [[The Grayzone]], CGTN, etc ''must'' be right, because it is not "[[mainstream media|mainstream]]" unlike the big cable news channels.
*Rejecting the "official" [[9/11]] story because it's supported by world governments and [[sheeple]].
Second-option bias is related to {{wpl|choice-supportive bias||,}} in which people will retroactively decide that choices they made were good choices.

==See also==
*''[[Argumentum ad populum]]''
*[[Essay:Second-option bias]]

==External links==
*[http://www.seekfind.net/Logical_Fallacy_of_Appeal_to_Rugged_Individualism__Appeal_to_the_Minority__Authority_of_the_Select_Few.html Logical Fallacy of Appeal to Rugged Individualism], [[SeekFind.net]]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20070408193928/http://www.cuyamaca.net/bruce.thompson/Fallacies/rugged.asp Appeal to Rugged Individualism], Bruce Thompson
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20060913191936/http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/fallacies.html Snob appeal], C. George Boeree
*[http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2010/10/really-informal-fallacies.html Appeal to minority], Edward Feser

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
==References==
{{reflist}}

{{logfal}}

[[Category:Appeals to authority]]
[[Category:Conditional fallacies]]

Categories: Appeals to authority, Conditional fallacies