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I agree completely. It seems that the most powerful tool most people have in their debate toolbox is "you have a financial interest in X, so your opinion on X

I agree completely. It seems that the most powerful tool most people have in their debate toolbox is "you have a financial interest in X, so your opinion on X must be invalid". But this is a logical fallacy. It's incorrect dismiss a study on the Widget industry just because it was performed by scientists from Widgets-R-Us. Who else is going to do the study? Who has more understanding of widgets than those very scientists? And in particular, why should we believe that the study done by Widgets-R-Evil is somehow more pure and worthy of consideration?

jeffmcjunkin 11y ago
Phrased more broadly - everyone has biases in their opinions. Make sure you know what their bias is and take it into account when listening to them. Widgets-R-Us has a strong financial incentive to make their Widgets study as advantageous to them as possible. Widgets-R-Evil has a strong incentive to blast Widgets-R-Us's study as invalid and make their own study as negative as possible, since their reason for existence (assumedly) is convincing people that Widgets are evil. The truth is A) usually without a direct incentive of its own and B) usually somewhere in the middle.
marcosdumay 11y ago
No, you are wrong. We don't live in a perfect boolean world, and "you have a financial interest on X" is a completely valid reason to dismiss everything you have to say about X. And what's even more valid is the rationale implied at this article, that since only people with financial interest on X are defending it, it follows that X is bad and you should be against it.