A parade of horribles can either refer to a type of

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

where people wear grotesque costumes, or a

rhetorical device In rhetoric, a rhetorical device, persuasive device, or stylistic device is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a perspective, ...

where one argues against taking a certain course of action by listing a number of extremely undesirable events that would result from it.

As a literal parade

The phrase ''parade of horribles'' originally referred to a literal parade of people wearing comic and grotesque costumes, rather like the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Mummers Parade The Mummers Parade is held each New Year's Day in Philadelphia. Local clubs (usually called "New Years Associations" or "New Years Brigades") compete in one of five categories (Comics, Wench Brigades, Fancies, String Bands, and Fancy Brigades). ...

. It was a traditional feature of

Fourth of July Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...

parades in parts of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the 19th century, and "Horribles Parades" continue to be part of the Independence Day celebration in several

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

communities. A 1926 newspaper article about July the Fourth celebrations in the White Mountains of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

notes:

Old-time celebrations are to be held tomorrow at Littleton, Lancaster, Colebrook, and Conway, with all the usual features of street parades of horribles and grotesques, brass bands, decorated automobiles and vehicles, exhibitions by fire departments, basket picnics in convenient groves...

Founded in 1926, the Ancient and Horribles Parade in

Chepachet, Rhode Island Chepachet is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Glocester in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It is centered at the intersection of U.S. Route 44 ( Putnam Pike) and Rhode Island Route 102 (also ...

continues this tradition. Other rural New England towns, such as

Hopkinton, Massachusetts Hopkinton is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, west of Boston. The town is best known as the starting point of the Boston Marathon, held annually on Patriots' Day each April, and as the headquarters for the Dell EMC corp ...

, and

Mendon, Massachusetts Mendon is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,228 at the 2020 census. Mendon is part of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, an early center of the industrial revolution in the United ...

, still hold annual Horribles Parades.

As a rhetorical device

A parade of horribles is also a

whereby the speaker argues against taking a certain course of action by listing a number of extremely undesirable events which will ostensibly result from the action. Its power lies in the emotional impact of the unpleasant predictions; however, a parade of horribles can potentially be a

fallacy A fallacy is the use of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning, or "wrong moves," in the construction of an argument which may appear stronger than it really is if the fallacy is not spotted. The term in the Western intellectual tradition was intr ...

if one or more of the following is true: *The action doesn't actually change the likelihood of the "horribles" occurring. The "horribles" could be unlikely to occur even if the action is taken, or they could be likely to happen anyway even if the action is avoided. This is an

appeal to probability An appeal to probability (or appeal to possibility, also known as ''possibiliter ergo probabiliter'', "possibly, therefore probably") is the logical fallacy of taking something for granted because it would probably be the case (or might possibly ...

, and can be viewed as a non sequitur insofar as the action has no causal relation to the "horribles". *The argument relies solely on the emotional impact of the "horribles" (an

appeal to emotion Appeal to emotion or ''argumentum ad passiones'' (meaning the same in Latin) is an informal fallacy characterized by the manipulation of the recipient's emotions in order to win an argument, especially in the absence of factual evidence. This kin ...

). *The "horribles" are not actually bad. *The "horribles" have a low probability of occurring when compared to the high probability of good occurring. A parade of horribles may be a type of

hyperbole Hyperbole (; adj. hyperbolic ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and ...

if it exaggerates the negative results of the action.

References

{{Fallacies Informal fallacies Rhetoric Parades in the United States Independence Day (United States) festivals

As a literal parade

As a rhetorical device

See also

References