One often comes across the ad verecundiam fallacy, namely that something is true because it comes "on authority". It can be subtle, though. Here are some examples.
• I asked a Police Colonel for a copy of a docket. An officer helped me prove that it had been stripped. The Colonel refused my request, but wrote ad verecundiam that everything was in order.POSTSCRIPT: Thanks to a reader who pointed out that I used, incorrectly, "ex verecundiam" (I also had it, correctly, "ad verecundiam" -- also called "ab auctoritate").
• I asked the Presbyterian Moderator for a copy of an agreement he claimed to have. He deleted it, but a Presbyterian Minister wrote ad verecundiam, repeating what was supposedly there.
• A more obvious case. I entered a police station, where an elderly woman sought to report a crime. A Captain ordered her out. He shouted, Do you see these stars? I am a Captain! Get out!
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