Reasoning pattern · source evaluation

Cherry-picking

Cherry-picking occurs when a conclusion is built from a selected subset of the available evidence while materially relevant contrary or contextual evidence is omitted.

Also known as: selective evidence

The problem is not that selected evidence is necessarily false. The problem is that the selection process can make a weak case look strong by hiding the denominator, the comparison group or the rest of the record.

In practice

Claims using this reasoning pattern

6
Unsupported Reviewed Sep 30, 2026

Are chemtrails a secret large-scale spraying program?

Persistent contrails are a documented atmospheric phenomenon: aircraft exhaust can form ice-crystal clouds that persist and spread when the upper atmosphere is sufficiently cold and humid. Real cloud-seeding and geoengineering research also exist, which is an important source of confusion. But those activities are distinct from ordinary high-altitude contrails. Expert surveys, aviation and atmospheric evidence, and current government documentation do not establish a covert large-scale spraying program hidden inside normal commercial-aircraft contrails.

Contradicted Reviewed Sep 30, 2026

Do vaccines cause autism?

The vaccine-autism claim has been tested in large cohort studies, case-control studies, meta-analyses and evidence reviews. A 2019 Danish cohort of 657,461 children found no increased autism risk after MMR vaccination, including among children with elevated baseline risk, and a 2014 meta-analysis covering more than 1.2 million children found no association with vaccination, MMR, thimerosal or mercury exposure from vaccines. The 1998 paper that catalyzed the MMR claim was a 12-child case series, did not establish causation and was later retracted.

Contradicted Reviewed Sep 29, 2026

Were the Egyptian pyramids built by extraterrestrials?

The alien-builder claim is contradicted by archaeological and documentary evidence from the Egyptian construction system itself: Fourth Dynasty support infrastructure at Giza, quarry and transport records, and Merer's logbook describing limestone transport to Khufu's pyramid complex while the project was active. Some engineering details remain debated; that is not evidence for extraterrestrial builders.

Unsupported Reviewed Sep 29, 2026

Does grounding or earthing treat inflammation and chronic disease?

Grounding changes the body's electrical potential relative to Earth, so the intervention has a real physical effect. Small studies have reported changes in sleep, pain, blood measures and recovery, including sham-controlled experiments. But the clinical literature is small and pilot-scale, several influential papers have commercial or advocacy ties to grounding companies, and independent replication is limited. The proposed free-electron mechanism has not been established as a general therapeutic pathway.

Unsupported Reviewed Sep 29, 2026

Is the Wim Hof Method a proven general treatment for disease?

The Wim Hof Method has produced measurable physiological effects in small controlled studies. A 2014 randomized endotoxemia experiment showed that trained healthy volunteers could increase epinephrine and alter inflammatory cytokine responses. A 2024 systematic review found promising inflammatory signals, but also judged the underlying studies very low quality, small, heterogeneous and at very high risk of bias. That is not equivalent to proving treatment efficacy across diseases, and cold-water exposure has real safety risks.

Unsupported Reviewed Sep 29, 2026

Was World Trade Center 7 brought down by a controlled demolition?

WTC 7's visible north façade did undergo about 2.25 seconds of gravitational acceleration during one stage of its descent. That observation is real, but it does not identify the initiating cause. NIST attributes the collapse to fire-driven progressive structural failure; a UAF study funded by Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth disputes that mechanism. The reviewed evidence does not establish controlled demolition.