Swapping Topics
Also: Red Herring, Changing the Topic, Whataboutism, Appeal to Hypocrisy, Tu Quoque, You Too, Not as Bad as, Dodging the Question, Tone Policing
Class: Evade > Irrelevant
Class: Evade > Irrelevant
Changing the topic instead
of addressing the issue.
of addressing the issue.
Usually accusing someone of hypocrisy,
questioning their motives, comparing to
someone else, or dodging the issue.
How well did he sing?
He really put in so much work and effort.
You’re dodging the question. I asked about his singing, not his effort.
@China Your human rights abuses of Uyghurs must be stopped!
@USA What about your police brutality of African Americans?
Don’t change the topic. Our issues do not excuse your issues.
This company is an “old boys club” with long history of sexism!
Calm down. You’re so emotional!
Stop tone policing me! Address the issue!
Foolacy vs. Fallacy
The fallacy Red Herring means introducing a second argument to distract from the first. It can also be a broader category of fallacies related to irrelevance, including Tu Quoque and Ad Hominem Tone Policing, which are all covered by this foolacy. Other fallacies of irrelevance have their own foolacies.
The term Red Herring comes from the belief that smoked fish was used in training to distract hunting dogs, but this was never a real practice. To new learners these are just random words, so instead I chose a name that is actually intuitive.