An appeal to authority only makes sense if all parties agree on the authority's authority.
I'm having difficulty coming up with a dumb idea that wasn't taken seriously by some people at some point.
"What do you mean, what's the matter with me? I'm having a sad episode. I *am* allowed to have a sad episode from time to time, i would think?"
Aesthetic preferences are not supposed to make sense; Aesthetics is not a rational discipline. You can either relate to them — if they are similar to your own — or not — if they are significantly (>37%) different.
An exercise in reflection: The immortal alien from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy drops out of the sky in his spaceship and throws an insult in your face. This insult just happens to be the worst you could possibly take — the bastard clearly has done his research. What is it?
"What?... How DARE you not fall for my obvious scam? Do you know how difficult it is to come up with something like that?!"
I'm looking forward for an opportunity to use the phrase "...In that case, your ability to catch hidden implications seems awfully selective" as an insult.
"Dear you-don't-know-who-you-are: I gave you more credit than you, probably, deserve, and took your "lol wut?" response seriously. My detailed, reasonable, well-founded and properly sourced reply is stated below."
You are your own person not when you do everything unlike everyone else; You are your own person, when the way anyone — or everyone — is doing it is not even part of your consideration.
Radical individualism in religion: "My relationship with God is mine alone; And nobody else — including you — has any say in the matter."
What do you mean "...Because God said so"? Didn't say anything [like that] to me, he didn't.
If philosophy is an argument of logic and science is an argument of utility, then religion is an argument of comfort.
"We find such behavior unacceptable, and we shall tirelessly work to root it out — through its universal permission."
The problem with having "avoid absolutes" as a guiding principle is not having a compelling argument to explain your behavior to those, who live by another — likely, absolute — principle.
It is widely known that sleep deprivation negatively impacts one's critical thinking ability. It is also known that most traditional religions include some form of sleep deprivation as part of their practices. Which, if you think about it, sounds awfully convenient.
For avoidance if doubt, i don't think i'm smarter than everyone else, and i would really appreciate if my immediate surroundings stopped trying to prove otherwise.