In
argumentation theory, an
argumentum ad populum (
Latin for "
appeal to the people") is a
fallacious argument that concludes that a
proposition is true because many or most people believe it: "If many believe so, it is so."
This type of argument is known by several names,
[1] including
appeal to the masses,
appeal to belief,
appeal to the majority,
appeal to democracy,
appeal to popularity,
argument by consensus,
consensus fallacy,
authority of the many,
bandwagon fallacy,
voxpopuli,
[2] and in
Latin as
argumentum ad numerum ("appeal to the number"),
fickle crowd syndrome, and
consensus gentium ("agreement of the clans"). It is also the basis of a number of social phenomena, including
communal reinforcement and the
bandwagon effect. The Chinese
proverb "
three men make a tiger" concerns the same idea.
Argumentum ad populum - Wikipedia
The converse of this is that
if many or most people do not believe it, it cannot be so, and that is fallacious.
The Narrow Way
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide
is the gate and broad
is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because[
a] narrow
is the gate and difficult
is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.