If I say, “iceberg,” probably jumping into your mind is something big, cold and white, gleaming in sunlight, maybe dropping chunks of ice, and if your image stops there, you may have stepped into the logical fallacy of composition. That fallacy happens when one infers the part observed is true of the whole. Most, 90 percent, of that iceberg is underwater, likely a blueish color, definitely not gleaming in the sun.
Most news items carried by media are aberrations from the normal. Normal is not news and therefore is nearly invisible.
In 2020, Portland was involved in a series of protests. I encountered many people that refused to cross the river, because in their minds, the whole city was involved — fallacy of composition — most of the city was not involved. During the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, I had calls from parts of the country wondering if I had begun packing up the house in order to evacuate — fallacy of composition — I’m miles away; the whole area was not in flames. One must always be careful not to step in that stinking pile of fallacy of composition lest our view of reality is warped.
