The fallacies of relevance

Personal Attack (Ad Hominem)

Irrelevantly attacking the individual rather than the issue. E.g. Ilham
stated that smoking is bad. However, he is an ill-mannered person.
Therefore, his argument is unacceptable.
Attacking the Motive
Attacking the arguers’ intention of offering a particular argument or
claim. E.g. Joe said that the Nasi Lemak sold at Bukit Bintang is very
delicious. I believe that we should reject this fallacious claim because
he is the one that sells Nasi Lemak at Bukit Bintang!
Look Who’s Talking (Tu Quoque)
An arguer rejects another person’s claim because that person fails to
practice what he preaches. E.g. “Ahmad, you should stop smoking!”
“Huh! I only will stop if you do Mr. 2-packs-a-day!
Two Wrongs Make a Right
An arguer attempts to justify a wrongful action/claim by claiming that
some other action/claim is just as bad/worse. E.g. “Bad, quit hitting
your sister!” “Well, he hit me first!”
Scare Tactics
An arguer simply irrelevantly threatens to harm the reader/listener if
they fail to agree with the arguer’s conclusion. E.g. “Please pay your
RM9000 debt to us today. We are afraid that there would be grave
consequences that will happen to your family if you don’t.”
Appeal to Pity
An arguer tries to win the reader/listener’s sympathy or
compassion.E.g. “Sir, please give me an ‘A’ for the Critical Thinking
exam. My brother is dying from cancer and I got HIV Positive. Please
sir…”
Bandwagon Argument
Plays on a person’s desire to be popular, loved, valued etc. rather than
appealing to logically relevant reasons or evidence. E.g. “All the cool
students of Bostonweb College smoke. Therefore, we should smoke
too!”
Straw Man
An arguer distorts an opponent’s argument/claim to make it easier to
attack. E.g. “Mr. Zul said that we should be more stern and disciplined
in raising a family. I think all he wanted is to punish his family members
and instill dictatorship in his family. Therefore, we should not listen to
his argument,”
Red Herring
An arguer tries to sidetrack his opponent by raising an irrelevant issue
and claims that the original issue has effectively been settled by the
irrelevant diversion. E.g. “Many people criticize Mr. Hamdan for being
an irresponsible husband. However, he is a good friend, and he always
donates to the charity whenever he can. Therefore, these people do not
know what they are talking about!”
Equivocation
A key word that being used by an arguer has more than one meaning
and the success of the argument depends on the shift of meaning. E.g.
“We should look for Amin’s laptop on branches of trees because he said
that his laptop always ‘hangs’…”
Begging the Question
An arguer simply states or assumes as a premise the very thing he or
she is trying to prove as a conclusion. E.g. “Playing paintball is
dangerous because it is unsafe…”