Cherry picking
Cherry picking, while literally meaning harvesting
cherries, is used as a
metaphor to accuse someone of pointing at individual cases which seem to confirm his or her position, while ignoring a (possibly much) larger portion of related cases that seem to contradict it.
For example, opponents of safety belts often cite rare cases in which car accident victims were strangled, or trapped, by a safety belt, whereas accident statistics suggest that they much more commonly save the life of the passenger (unless used improperly).
Cherry picking also refers to the process of
collecting erroneous coins.
See also:
Quote mining