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Understanding the Red Herring Fallacy

A red herring fallacy is when someone responds to a question with unrelated information to distract from the original topic. It involves presenting irrelevant information to divert attention away from the actual discussion. For example, a politician asked about new policies that failed to reduce unemployment might discuss meeting with business leaders instead of addressing the question. Responding to a red herring could involve asking the person to justify it, pointing it out, redirecting back to the original topic, accepting it and moving on, or withdrawing from the discussion.

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124 views1 page

Understanding the Red Herring Fallacy

A red herring fallacy is when someone responds to a question with unrelated information to distract from the original topic. It involves presenting irrelevant information to divert attention away from the actual discussion. For example, a politician asked about new policies that failed to reduce unemployment might discuss meeting with business leaders instead of addressing the question. Responding to a red herring could involve asking the person to justify it, pointing it out, redirecting back to the original topic, accepting it and moving on, or withdrawing from the discussion.

Uploaded by

Vaishnavi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Red Herring Fallacy

A red herring is a misleading piece of information intended to divert attention away from something
important that is when someone responds to a question with unrelated information to conceal their
refusal to answer the original question. The red herring fallacy is a logical fallacy where someone
presents irrelevant information to distract others from a topic that is being discussed, often to avoid a
question or shift the discussion in a new direction. For example, if a politician is asked regarding the new
policy implemented and what are them thought on new policies, they may use the red herring fallacy to
divert attention of the participants or reporters as explained through the below example.

E.g

Interviewer: Your policies have been in effect for two years, and they have yet to reduce unemployment
rates.

Politician: I have been working hard since I started to work in the office, and I'm pleased to report that
I've met with many business leaders across the country, and all of the projects in hand with the business
leaders are worth the hard work.

You can respond to a red herring by asking the person who used it to justify it, pointing it out yourself
and explaining why it is fallacious, redirecting the conversation back to the original line of discussion,
accepting it and moving on, or withdrawing from the discussion entirely.

When deciding how to respond to a red herring, consider relevant personal and situational factors such
as the topic being discussed, the reason why the other person wishes to avoid this topic, your
relationship with the other person, the context of the conversation, and the type of audience listening
to the conversation.

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