Conspiracy Myths (6) - Red Herring and other fishy things

Red Herring and other fishy things


Here are some Red Herring examples (i.e., someone deliberately tries to derail the discussion from the relevant issue to a different one)

I don't know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy - yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1 in terror, no problem!

“It’s locker room talk, and it’s one of those things. I will knock the hell out of ISIS. We’re going to defeat ISIS. ISIS happened a number of years ago in a vacuum that was left because of bad judgment. And I will tell you, I will take care of ISIS.”

Darwinism has had a bad influence on people’s morale, and must therefore be wrong. (Ignorantio elenchi: argumentation not relevant for original question about whether evolution theory is true or not; ignorantio elenchi is similar to the effect of a Red Herring, i.e., the use of (intentionally) misleading arguments or facts).


Straw man Response

A Straw Man is a form of response where the opponent’s statements are not properly addressed or not properly answered. Instead, a response is given to an altered (weaker or distorted) statement that the opponent never said. This includes: citing an opponent’s words out of context, or exaggerating them, or simplifying, or presenting them in a distorted manner:

Example from a draft of a bill (HCR 74) considered by the Louisiana State Legislature in 2001:

Whereas, the writings of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, promoted the justification of racism, and his books On the Origin of Species and The Descent of Man postulate a hierarchy of superior and inferior races. . . . Therefore, be it resolved that the legislature of Louisiana does hereby deplore all instances and all ideologies of racism, does hereby reject the core concepts of Darwinist ideology that certain races and classes of humans are inherently superior to others, and does hereby condemn the extent to which these philosophies have been used to justify and approve racist practices.

 

Raising the bar

Postulation: Ingredient X is the reason for the allergy. Scientific research:  no correlation. Changed postulation: OK, then it was ingredient Y. Scientific research:  no correlation. Changed postulation: it was only a very small amount of either X or Y that are not measurable by your scientific method. (This is called: raising the bar, or moving the goal posts, and this method keeps myths and conspiracies alive)


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Circumcision: Literature and References

Ciphered Bodies - Disciplined Bodies

Poem: MESSENGERS