Everybody Does It
* From “The A**HOLE’S Guide To Arguing (Or, How To Succeed In Politics)”
If you are a parent, this will sound familiar:
“Everybody has one. Why can’t I have one?”
“But everybody in my class is going. Why can’t I go?”
Whatever it is that your kid wants, the appeal to conformity will be used as a reason for them to get it.
If everybody has it or does it, then your kid should too, right? That means it is normal. And being normal means fitting in and being accepted, which is good. And if everybody else wants to jump off a cliff, then… OK, so maybe conformity is not always a good thing.
“Nobody else here has a problem with that. What makes you so special? Why can’t you just go along with what everybody else is doing?”
Here, the appeal to conformity is being used as an assault on individuality, to make someone do something they do not want. Such as jumping off a cliff, like a good little lemming.
The appeal to conformity is also a popular excuse.
When someone gets called out for cheating on their taxes or their partner, lying on a job application, littering, drunk driving (anything that they know they should not do) the 'everybody does it' excuse pops up. Share on XIf it shows up during a political debate – do not vote for that person. During a job interview – do not hire that person. During a date – run like hell. It means they are unwilling to take responsibility for their actions.
© Merlyn Gabriel Miller
