Red herrings (distractions)

• Distraction techniques
• Change of topic

There is a widespread misunderstanding that “red herring” was supposedly used in training scent hounds, where the dog trainer would use the pugent smell of marinated fish to taint a scent trail, in order to teach the dogs not to be distracted. However, it seems that neither is or was this ever a common practice, nor how the expression came into being.

Instead the origin of the term seems to be that this story was pointed out as a good example of false information that distracts from the real facts. Subsequently, other distractions became also known as “red herrings”.

There are many reasons why a participant in a discussion may seek to divert attention from the subject at hand. In most cases, this should not necessarily be interpreted as ill intent, but rather as an attempt to further the conversation or to move on to a topic to which they can contribute more. Inexperienced debaters in particular tend to jump from one topic to another without ever finishing any of them.

However, there are also unfair ways to distract from the topic. These are discussed in the following articles:

• (Argumentum) ad Hominem
  • (Argumentum) ad Feminam
  • (Argumentum) ad Virum
  • Insults (“ad Personam”)
  • Insinuations (“circumstantial ad Hominem”)
  • Guilt by association
  • Tu quoque
• Whataboutism

Also, different defeasible arguments and unfair discussion tactics can sometimes be used as a diversionary tactic. These include:

• Fallacy-fallacy (“ad Logicam”)
• Slippery slope
• Derailing
• Appeal to consequences
• Strawman (argument)

• Confusion tactics

• Red herring on Wikipedia