In Praise of Fallacies
All, or nearly all, the classical logical fallacies are fallacies because they are perfectly reliable social methods of weighing evidence in real life in cases where logic does not necessitate an answer.

Ad hominem: It is normal and reasonable to take the character of the witness into account when weighing the believability of his testimony — it merely does not necessarily prove he is lying here and now, even though he lies frequently.

Ad Antiquitatem: It is normal and reasonable to pay more respect to a belief that has stood the test of time, and been found worthy by several generations to pass from father to son. This does not prove an older belief is true, but it may shift the burden of proof.

Ad populum: It is normal and reasonable to take into account whether a belief has been pondered and accepted by a large number of people, rather than being a fringe belief, believed by a few. Two heads are better than one. This does not prove the popular belief is true, but it means the unpopular belief must overcome a greater burden of skepticism: for one must not only explain the question at hand, but also explain why this wisdom is confined to so few.

Ad Verecundiam: It is normal and reasonable to defer to expert opinion on a topic, if the experts have spent more time, effort, or resources studying the issue, particularly if one is in no position to compare this with what is commonly known. Again, it does not prove the expert is correct, but it may shift the burden of proof.

And so on.

These and all such cases, the modern propaganda techniques that have been used on you, dear reader, every day of your life include a deliberate and ever-present falsification of all these social proof: every expert you have ever heard was paid and pressured to give false testimony, every poll and presentation make popular opinions look like crackpot fringe beliefs, and made crackpot fringe beliefs look popular, and the idea that your ancestors were brutes and idiots never to be consulted on any topic has been inculcated insidiously into every storybook and movie as could be. The normal ways normal people untrained in logic use to separate believable from unbelievable have all been captured and perverted and reversed. So beware. Logic, strict logic, is now the only remaining bulwark between your mind and the screaming abyss of chaos.