What fallacy is this? Formal name?

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Original Question

I know this is a fallacy in logic---an informal one, I believe, since it can't be boiled down to an equation. I've been referring to it as the Lorax Fallacy but people don't understand when I mention it. It takes one of three forms:

1) "Member of Group"

P1: I am a member of City Hall
P2: I do not want to deal with potholes
C: City Hall doesn't want to deal with potholes

2) "Sufficiently aligned interests"
P1: I am not a tree
P2: I consider my interests sufficiently aligned with the trees' that I can speak for them
C: I speak for the trees

3) "Nobody cares""
P1: I am somebody
P2: I don't care
C: Nobody cares

What's the name of this fallacy?

Answers

The general category of fallacy that all these might best fall under is Hasty Generalization , or drawing a conclusion based on a small sample size, rather than looking at statistics that are much more in line with the typical or average situation.

1) The fallacy here is inferring the consensus of an organization based on the opinion of one person. Mind you, if the member was speaking for City Hall in an official capacity, this would not be fallacious. Much like the Pope speaks for the Catholic Church.

2) Same thing as above.

3) This is probably the most extreme form of hasty generalization that is possible!

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