One Bad Apple Spoils The Bunch

* From “The A**HOLE’S Guide To Arguing (Or, How To Succeed In Politics)”

“One bad apple spoils the bunch.”

The expression above is an example of the fallacy of composition. Here we assume that what is true for one part must be true for the whole, and vice versa.

If one apple is bad, they’re all bad. And if they are all bad, and you are one of them, then obviously – you are bad.

“I wouldn’t hire that Simmons guy. Or anyone from that family. You know his brother is in jail for murder, right?”

Here, Simmons might not get a job because of this fallacy. The one speaking assumes that if one brother is bad news, then that goes for the rest of the family as well. But as you know, you do not choose your family. Which means that the argument is not only fallacious, but also unfair.

Even if it were true, that criminals breed criminals,
like academics are said to breed academics,
– then what families do nuns and monks come from?
Aren’t they supposed to be celibate?

Naughty, naughty.

In the example above, one unfortunate guy was denied a job because of his family. But what if he was denied a job because of his gender, race, nationality or religion? Those are pretty broad categories that a lot of people fit into.

“So, you’re from Me-hi-co, huh? We got no use for a dirty, tequila drinkin’, drug running Mexican here.”

Not a fan of Mexicans this guy. He seems to think that because Mexico is known for tequila and drug cartels, all Mexicans are drug runners who drink tequila. And who wants to hire one of those?

“You can’t hire that guy. He’s a Muslim. What if you have an argument and he decides to blow up the place? You can’t trust those people.”

Here, one guy takes the blame for all the Muslims who have committed acts of terror. Whether he agreed with what they did or not, knew them or not, does not matter. The argument is that all Muslims are bad (they’re a bad bunch). And if you are one of them that means you are bad too (a bad apple).

As you might have guessed, the fallacy of composition is behind much of the hate rhetoric you hear. Share on X

So, the next time you hear someone argue that they should jail, exile, kill or discriminate against a certain class of people, because of something that only one, or a few of them did – know that they are committing this fallacy.

© Merlyn Gabriel Miller