![]() ![]() Tip: Impress your friends by telling them that there is no such fish species as a "red herring " rather it refers to a particularly pungent fish-typically a herring but not always-that has been strongly cured in brine and/or heavily smoked. This could be for the purpose of entertainment, avoiding embarrassment, or any other purpose including argumentation. Variation: Misdirection is a more generic term for diverting attention away from something. shifting the young-earth creation timeline where it does not necessarily coincide with the Bible.Įxception: Using a red herring to divert attention away from your opponent's red herring, might work, but do two wrongs make a right? The universe can be as old as about 10,000 years.Įxplanation: Marty has succeeded in avoiding the devastating question by introducing a new topic for debate. So, he/she redirects attention to another subject. ![]() Mike: It’s a code of conduct shared by cultures.Įxplanation: Ken has successfully derailed this conversation off of his sexual digressions to the deep, existential, discussion on morality.īilly: How could the universe be 6000 years old when we know the speed of light, the distance of astronomical objects (13+ billion light years away), and the fact that the light has reached us ? This could be done, for example, when the person is not as able to respond to one subject as another. Mike: It is morally wrong to cheat on your spouse, why on earth would you have done that? While it is similar to the avoiding the issue fallacy, the red herring is a deliberate diversion of attention with the intention of trying to abandon the original argument. (also known as: beside the point, misdirection, changing the subject, false emphasis, the Chewbacca defense, irrelevant conclusion, irrelevant thesis, clouding the issue, ignorance of refutation)ĭescription: Attempting to redirect the argument to another issue to which the person doing the redirecting can better respond. It is often known by the Latin name ignoratio elenchi, which is a translation of Aristotles Greek phrase for ignorance of refutation.
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