Hey, what’s up guys!
Before we dive into the new fallacy for today, let’s do a quick review: “post hoc ergo propter hoc” which, when translated means ”after this, therefore, on account of this”. I know that’s a mouthful, and this fallacy is often shortened to Post Hoc, which means “after this”; or it’s also sometimes called False Cause.
The Post Hoc fallacy is concluding that since X happened before Y, then X had to have caused Y. Well, that’s not necessarily the case - there could have been several other things that caused Y to happen.
Question to ask yourself to see if a Post Hoc fallacy is being committed is this: “Is it really true that this is the thing that CAUSED that outcome or could there be another more likely cause?”
If you want to hear more about the Post Hoc fallacy, go back and check out Episode 6
So, the new fallacy we’ll be talking about today is called Red Herring. A Red Herring fallacy happens when someone goes off topic and introduces something completely irrelevant into the conversation or argument. It’s a way of avoiding the question and creating a distraction so that they don’t have to actually address the original argument.
Let me give you the background story on how it came to be called the Red Herring fallacy and I promise you’ll never forget this one: So a red herring is a type of dead fish. It’s a herring that has been turned red during the process of smoking it. So these red herrings were used at some point in history by dog trainers to teach their dogs to stay on a scent that they were tracking. What they would do is create a scent trail of whatever they were teaching their dogs to track…let’s say in this case it’s turkey. After they laid out the turkey-scented trail, they would thendrag the stinky, smelly, dead red herring across the trail and going in a different direction. The whole point of this was to train the dogs to continue tracking the turkey and not get taken off track by the red herring scent.
Have you ever watched a movie where a plot twist or a character was introduced that led you to a conclusion that turned out to be false in the end? That was a red herring being used in a movie. It’s also used in books as a literary device to make the book more interesting.
Ok, here’s an example or a Red Herring: Kid: “I think I need new gloves, my hands are freezing when I go outside in the snow.” Dad: “When i was a kid, I had to walk to school uphill both ways in snow up to my knees and I wasn’t allowed to complain” Do you see how the dad changed the subject? The kid was saying he needs better gloves and the dad diverted the attention from the real issue by focusing on an issue that was only slightly relevant.
Red Herrings can get a little tricky b/c sometimes a Red Herring will sound like and may even be a good argument. But they become a Red Herring when they don’t prove the point being argued, and instead prove another point.
For example: A politician is asked: “What steps would you take to lower inflation & strengthen the economy?” to which the politician replies: “What every fiscally strong country needs is confidence in its government and the best way to create confidence is by being open & transparent at the highest level. We need more accountability.” Now, is his answer correct? Sure! But did it answer the question that was being asked? No, it didn’t. It was meant to avoid answering the question.
Or how about this example: John says: “I’m really disappointed that you weren’t there to help me paint my house last week like you promised” Courtney: “Oh yeah? Well, what about that time you didn’t show up at my retirement party?” Even though Courtney may have a legitimate issue about John not showing up at her retirement party, she’s still committing a Red Herring fallacy by not addressing John’s question of the broken house painting promise.
So, here’s the question you can ask yourself to determine if someone is committing a Red Herring fallacy: “Is that really the argument that is being made here or am I being distracted from the real question?” *repeat*
Up next: Special Pleading
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
