Ignoring of Inconvenient Evidence
Sometimes evidence is discounted or minimized that doesn’t support a desired point. Sometimes, there’s an attempt to characterize evidence as extraordinary; as if it would be somehow unfair to consider it. When there’s always something extraordinary in every set of evidence that needs to be considered.
Examples
“If not for the big loss we took on Investment X, this would have been a really profitable year.”
“We would have won the Superbowl if we hadn’t have had fewer points when time ran out.”
“I would have had a great week nutritionally, if there was three birthday parties and a potluck at work.”
The opening line on “Anna Karenina” says
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
The point is that every unhappy family has some issue, it’s just a different issue every time. One family might be tempted to say, “we’d have been fine if Dad didn’t drink so much.” However, Dad did drink, and if he didn’t, there might have been something else that caused the family to be unhappy.