This fallacy is on the principle that in the case there is a lack of evidence to prove it to be true, it is considered naturally to be false. An atheist might claim that as a creationist cannot prove that God exists therefore God does not exist. Similarly a creationist can say that because the atheist cannot prove that God does not exist, hence God exists. Basically this fallacy deals with the burden of proof and in the absence of any proof it labels the opposite to be absolutely true. This fallacy is used in the judicial systems that are based on the principle of "innocent until proven guilty". Hence the burden of proof is not on the defendant but on the prosecutor to prove him to be guilty. If he fails to submit sufficient evidence then the defendant is assumed to be innocent and released. This type of fallacy compromises critical thinking because the absence of proof does not necessarily mean the opposite to be true. Disregardin

"In one incident a drunken 75-year-old man, screaming, 'You're destroying my country,' tried to run down a Pakistani woman in a Long Island parking lot." (Jerry White)

However where there only exist two options then this type of reasoning would not be called fallacious. For an example one asks "is Joe dead or is Joe alive?" This would not be fallacious because if Joe is not dead then he is obviously alive. But where more than two options exist then this mode of reasoning is without doubt erroneous as both the options that are put forward could be false with a third or fourth one being true. Therefore when making decision one has to filter this fallacy and realize that between black and white there lies grey.

Hasty generalization is the formation of an opinion about a population based on a very small sample. If the sample would be large enough to logically form an opinion then it would not be considered fallacious. Stating that Muslims were involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center and therefore all Muslims are terrorists is nothing but fallacious. An example of this type of fallacy has been reported by Jerry White:

The agency could not disprove Communist connection hence it was assumed that there were Communist connections. This assumption is not necessarily true and what he should have looked for was any evidence to prove Communist connections. This type of fallacy should not be used to make vital decisions as far as some cases are concerned. However in cases where the burden of proof is put on the prosecutor to prove the defendant to be guilty, this fallacy is well used otherwise the law and order system would get extremely corrupted. If the defendant was to prove his innocence then law enforcing agencies could put anyone in the trouble of proving themselves to be innocent for whatever alleged crime. It was wrong of Senator McCarthy to accuse anyone of having Communist connections or for Mahathir Mohammad to hold the former

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ad Ignorantiam, Similarly Christians, Richard Rovere, President Bush, Jerry White, William Raspberry, False Dilemma, Trade Center, INTRODUCTION Arguments, Atheist God, hasty generalization, type fallacy, communist connections, world trade center, black white, trade center, world trade, prove god, burden proof, god exist, muslims involved, woman trying destroy, prove god exist, attacks world trade,
Approximate Word count = 1316
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)