The "Spotlight" Fallacy

[sarahmichigan]

I hadn't heard this term before, but it might be because it's similar to or just a variation on the "hasty generalization." If you think that all homosexual men are screaming drag queens and all lesbians are leather dykes on bikes because you've seen one Gay Pride parade on TV, you're falling victim to the "Spotlight" fallacy.

I see people falling into this fallacy all the time, most recently, stereotyping all Muslims as violent because of a few bad apples who are in the media spotlight.

More discussion on the fallacy here:

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/spotlight.html