This is another in my occasional series of logical fallacies. Appeal to Authority (Latin argumentum ad verecundiam) is quite popular, and some people think that it operates as a trump card. If old So-and-So says so, then it must be true. Well, that's not how one wins an argument; the one with the best facts and the logic wins. Even if your authority is a recognized authority on the subject at hand you have to present the data and the logical argument, but it is more common for people to cite an ...