Red Herring Fallacy
A Fallacy is a defect that weakens a writer’s arguments in a text. They are common errors in writing that undermine the logic of a case or the overall value of argument. A fallacy can either be an illegitimate argument or an irrelevant point, which is often characterized by a lack of evidence that supports the claim. Red herring is one of the common fallacies writers and speakers employ.
Red Herring fallacy aims at diverting attention from the main issue and instead focussing on an issue that less important. It could also be termed as false emphasis, besides the point, irrelevance conclusion, misdirection, etc. It is an attempt to redirect the argument to another issue which the individual feels more comfortable to handle. It’s a diversion of attention from the original or real issue. The arguer hardly goes back to the original issue.
In Literature, Red herring is used in detective or suspense novels by the writer to divert the attention of the readers and lead them into making false conclusions or misleading them. The author provides a red herring to intentionally divert the attention of the readers from the person of interest or the target object, thereby making the conclusion of the text a surprise (Rainbolt, 2014). The reader is, therefore, distracted or stopped from proving his point or discovering something meaningful in an argument by distracting them with issues that are not relevant.
One of the instances where Red Herring fallacy was provided is during the 2012 Presidential Debate ( https://youtu.be/HxRQm-3bzf0). This took place on Monday, 22 October 2012, between President Barrack Obama, who was a Democratic nominee, and former Governor Mitt Romney. The debate witnessed questions ranging from the great recession, federal budget issues, social insurance programs, and affordable care act. Foreign policy was also debated, including the Iraq war and Iranian nuclear program. In the interview, someone asked the candidates how they will limit the availability of assault weapons. In their response, neither man answered that specific question. Instead, Barack Obama emphasized catching violence before it gets out of control, while Romney focused on good schools and raising children in conducive, two-parent homes. They both employed Red herrings to divert the attention of the audience from the original question.
Politicians are fond of using red herrings, especially in instances when they want to avoid awkward questions in a discussion (Griffin, 2016). They bring up another issue, which is necessarily relevant to the aim of distracting and diverting the attention of the listeners from the main point.
Fake news is also a form of red herring. Fake news in this context means issues that are receiving much attention than they deserve. These stories spread quickly, like wildfire through social media. For example, the release of Clinton and Podesta’s emails by Russian hackers in the 2016 election campaigns diverted the public’s attention from Ms. Clinton’s election policies to the infamous emails. Fake news can also be in the form of propaganda often used as weapons by politicians during elections.
From the above arguments, red herring can be creatively used by literary writers to create suspense and surprise. Red herring can equally be used as a technique to dodge real issues by individuals, especially those from the political class.
Works Cited
Griffin, Cindy L. Invitation to Public Speaking – National Geographic Edition. Cengage Learning, 2016.
Rainbolt, George W., and Sandra L. Dwyer. Critical Thinking: The Art of Argument. Cengage Learning, 2014.
Rhetoric, Logic, and Argumentation: A Guide for Student Writers. Prestwick House, 2010.