Well if the situation were reversed......
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Original Question
This is a common phrase I hear a lot, specifically pertaining to the Time Square shooting suspect happening right now,
P1: Wow did you see that shooting suspect in the Time Square shooting, if he was {insert race or anything relating to the suspects identity} then x would've happened. The {insert political opinion on media covering the event} would've done y if x would've happened.
Another example I see a lot is:
P1: Wow! Did you see that women get sexually harassed? Well if the situations were reversed x would've happened........
Answers
3Could be opinion, biases or any other number of other reason. You would have to dig deeper as to why they think that way.
Have a look at the hypothesis contrary to fact .
I see this a lot in politics too. It's typically the result of heated debates where one side alleges moral or logical inconsistency on the part of another side, arguing that therefore, the position of the other side is discredited.
However...it's not necessarily fallacious; it's often just an unsupported opinion.
Example:
Jessie: Did y'all hear about the guy who dressed up as a cowboy and went around town on horseback lassoin' people's phones out of their hands? They're [the media are] sayin' it's 'escapism'. If he were Black, they'd say he's a criminal who needs a good jailin'. More evidence of systemic racism in our country.
Jessie may or may not be correct that the cowboy cosplayer would have been treated differently if he were black, but...it's an unsupported opinion. We have no reason to accept the conclusion.
As an argument it can also count as hypothesis contrary to fact, but before calling fallacy I think it's better to ask whether the person can support their speculation.
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