analogies are not persuasive on their own. But if the analogy is simply a carrier for a persuasive association—let’s say, comparing any strong leader to Hitler—the association can be persuasive to some, even while the details of the analogy are ridiculous. Now watch me summarize this point by using an analogy, because analogies are good at explaining new concepts: If your analogy includes a strong negative association (such as Hitler), you could think of the analogy as a holster and the negative association as a gun. The gun is persuasive. The holster is not.
