So continues my project of illustrating the informal fallacies using snail imagery. The argument from authority is important enough to boast two Latin names, argumentum ad verecundiam (argument to respect), and ipse dixit (he himself said it). I prefer ipse dixit because it's nicely percussive, like a swear word. In my drawing, I wanted to emphasize the symbolic power of authority over a mass of people, but also the delicacy and uncertainty of the matter inside the heads of figureheads as well. I don't mean to imply here that all authoritative figures are full of hot air, but more that we don't always know exactly what's keeping them up there, unless we operated the balloon-filling station. Like a parade baloon, authority grows, dies, and moves slowly, while ideas move quickly, like little particles of helium, and we can only hope that our figureheads remain, well, full of it. Let's get down to brass tacks, so to speak, and puncture authority a bit...