RED HERRING FALLACY

A Red Herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important

question. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literal device that leads readers or
audiences towards a false conclusion. It may be used intentionally, as rhetorical strategies
like for example in politics, can be used in argumentation inadvertently.

Red Herring is often used in legal studies and exam problems to mislead and distract
students from reaching a correct conclusion about a legal issue, intended as a device that
test students’ comprehension of underlying law and their ability to properly discern
material factual circumstances.

As an informal fallacy, the red herring falls into a broad class of relevance fallacies.
Unlike the straw man, which involves a distortion of the other party’s position, the red
herring is a seemingly plausible, though ultimately irrelevant, divisionary tactics.

Popularized by English polemicist William Cobbett, who told a story of having used a
strong-smelled smoked fish to divert and distract hounds from chasing a fox/rabbit.

Red Herring got its name from a particular strong kipper, made with fish (typically
herring) that has been strongly brined or heavily smoked. This process makes the fish
particularly pungent smelling and, with enough brine, it turns its flesh reddish.

As it was mentioned on the picture, a red herring was used to distract young scent
hounds. The red herring would be dragged along a trail until a puppy learned to follow
the scent. Later, when the dog was being trained to follow the faint odor of a fox or a
rabbit, the trainer would drag a red herring (whose role is to confuse the hound)
perpendicular to the animal’s trail. The dog will eventually learned to follow the original
scent rather than the stronger scent.
An example of which is shown on the picture:

On this example, the dog represents the people, the fox represents the main issue or main
question and the red heir is the irrelevant distraction.

Another example of a Red Herring Falacy:

Not to denigrate the person/ people in the picture, but to show a clear example of a red
herring fallacy. Where as Mr. Mark Lopez asked Vice President Leni Robredo if she red
the QW petition and what can she says about it. Vice President Leni Robredo responded
with, “Ganito yan ano mas preferred mo, lunch merienda? Or both? It clearly shows that
the answer of the respondent is irrelevant to the question or the main topic.
Most of our politicians in the Philippines use red herring fallacy; it’s just that we are
unaware of it. On my power point presentation I will be showing a short video clip of an
example of red herring fallacy in the government. Where in it will be showing
distractions and diversions to forget about the main issue or the main topic.

Here are my 3 questions:

1. English Polemicist that popularized the term Red Herring Fallacy – William Cobbett
2. Something that misleads or distracts from relevant or important topic- Red Herring
Fallacy
3. What type of fallacy is Red Herring? - Relevance Fallacies

Jervi Philip Lapaan

The Red Herring Fallacy