Red herring


     
    Name of fallacy Red herring
    Aliases Fallacy of relevance
    Type Irrelevant Argument, Informal Argument
    Description Diversion to another question, to a side issue, or by irrelevant objection
    Example "I think that we should make the academic requirements stricter for students. I recommend that you support this, because we are in a budget crisis and we do not want our salaries affected."

    Topic A is the proposal that academic requirements be raised. Topic B is the possible effects of a budget crisis on teachers salaries. Topic A is abandoned and the unrelated topic B is introduced. 
    Form 
    Treatment Dealt with by refusing to be diverted from the original question, but stating again the real question at issue

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