Missing the Point
Also: Irrelevant Conclusion, Swapping Topics
Class: Distort > Straw Man
Class: Distort > Straw Man
Misinterpreting the problem
to redirect the argument.
to redirect the argument.
This is a more subtle type of Straw Man.
Both are strategic misinterpretations, but this is less
mocking and exaggerated. It’s not changing the topic,
more like changing the question.
Prop 23 does nothing to reduce class sizes!
It doesn’t claim to. It’s about curriculum improvements.
They cannot silence us!
They’re not trying to silence you. They’re just voting against your policy.
Black Lives Matter!
All Lives Matter!
You know we mean black lives matter equally, not only. Don’t pretend you don’t understand.
This new law is great advance for women’s rights!
This is no victory. We don’t have equality yet!
That doesn’t mean this isn’t progress.
Foolacy vs. Fallacy
Many sources interpret the fallacy Irrelevant Conclusion broadly to include any irrelevant argument, which is really a category of more specific fallacies, and I do have several foolacies for Irrelevance. But there is also a narrow interpretation of Irrelevant Conclusion which applies here as Missing the Point.
The categorization of this foolacy (and Straw Man too) could be either Distort or Irrelevance, since you are distorting the question to an irrelevant conclusion. I felt like Distort is a slightly better fit, but that may vary for each specific example.