# Guilt by association

*Also called: Association fallacy*

- **Cluster:** Attacks on the source — Judging the speaker instead of the argument
- **Page:** https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/guilt-by-association/
- **In Arabic:** https://fallacy.wiki/ar/fallacy/guilt-by-association.md
- **Licence:** CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

## What it is

Rejecting a position because a disliked group also holds it.

## In the wild

> That group supports the policy, so it must be bad.

## How to answer it

Ask whether the shared conclusion rests on shared reasons. Usually it does not.

## Origin and naming

Also called the association fallacy, it runs in both directions — guilt by association damns and honor by association flatters. Its modern infamy comes from the McCarthy-era loyalty hearings, where proximity to the accused was treated as evidence against the associate.

## More places it shows up

- A city council member's transit plan lands badly after opponents keep noting that a widely despised former mayor once proposed something with the same name.
- A founder rejects collaboration with a capable engineer because the engineer's previous employer was a company the founder publicly feuds with.
- Commenters declare a charity fundraiser corrupt after discovering that an influencer they dislike promoted it first.
- Neighbors oppose a weekend farmers' market because a fringe political group campaigned for a similar one in another district.

## How to spot it

- Notice when the case against an idea is a guest list rather than an argument.
- Notice when the speaker spends more time naming who agrees than why they agree.
- Notice when you feel pushed to recoil from a position before you have heard its reasons.

## Nearby

- [Reductio ad Hitlerum](https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/reductio-ad-hitlerum.md)
- [Genetic fallacy](https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/genetic.md)
- [Poisoning the well](https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/poisoning-well.md)

## Read more

- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy)
- [The Fallacy Files](https://fallacyfiles.org/guiltbya.html)

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From fallacy.wiki — a bilingual field guide to 91 logical fallacies, published by phi holdings. Licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): reuse freely with attribution to fallacy.wiki.