Slanting -- the practice of selecting facts that are favorable to one's opinion while suppressing those against it.
 

NOTE: This and the fallacies that follow in this section are all specific types of distortion.
 

Slanting results in a distorted and unfair description or assessment of the situation, communicated by people who either lack understanding of the overall picture or who purposely place a “spin” on the subject.  Slanting is a form of half-truth ... which makes it also a form of a half-lie.
 

EXAMPLE

An economics failure says: “The average annual salary of a typical American is about $35,000; therefore, there cannot be any real poverty in this country.”

This statement ignores two key facts.  One is that there are a million millionaires who skew this average salary, while not taking into account the tens of millions of Americans who make less than $16,000 per year (the poverty line for a family of four).  These omitted facts are just as important to the argument because they help to provide a context for the data.  Real economists will avoid making decisions based only on averages, which can often be misleading.
 

FOR  YOUR  INFORMATION

Slanting is not necessarily illegal or immoral, although it certainly can be.  When buying a house or marrying a spouse, we should be fairly informed about the good and the bad of every person, place, or thing.