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Running head: FALLACY 1

Fallacy

Name

Institution

FALLACY 2

Fallacy

Introduction

Fallacy is described as the errors that emerge during reasoning because of lack of

perfection and thus drawing the wrong conclusion. Logically, the mistakes that arise because of

some basic issues are fallacies and sometimes described as systematic errors in reasoning. The

fallacy, in this case, is a red herring since the individual distracts the attention of the issues at

hand by introducing an irrelevant issue is superficially related to the issues being addressed

(Sutter, 2016).

Description of the fallacy

The political ad in the video shows red herring fallacy. This ad was preordained to

demonstrate how the foe was unaware of the basic issues facing Americas who indeed have lost

the struggle of keeping their homes every month. This qualifies to be an applicable argument

since a person like him would be expected to be insensitive to the Americans who are not used to

spending much money to the extent of forgetting the number of houses they have possession of

(Barnet & Bedau, 2005)

The political add was demonstrating that Americans cannot simply afford- for instance

during harsh economic times to send people who have spent much so relaxed that they forget the

houses they possess (Barnet & Bedau, 2005). As such, sending a man like him to the highest

office in the country would be considered as improper and unwarranted. However, in case the

intention of the advertisement was meant to gauge or measure his level of awareness about the

FALLACY 3

economy, then this would amount to red herring. This is a demonstration of his lack of

understanding the fundamentals of the economy and how strong they are.

The error that is committed in the fallacy

The error that is committed in the fallacy is the shift in conversation from the

understanding of the fundamentals of this economy to the owning of houses (Barnet & Bedau,

2005). In this case, the reasoning is neither well formulated, well connected nor well established.

The formulation in theis case relates to understating exactly what the person said in contrary to

what he was expected to say or respond. In relevant to the conclusion, the individual diverted the

attention and appeared to draw the attention of the owning houses as opposed to responding to

the issues of understanding the fundamentals of the economy. The person said things that would

be considered logically irrelevant to the questions raised and rather persuades the audience to

non-logical grounds of self-interest (Barnet & Bedau, 2005).

Strategies that will help in avoiding this fallacy

The common mistake that was made in the formulation of the reasoning is an

interpretation of the views that the individual wished to respond to and misinterpretation of the

nature of the issues he was to address (Bluedorn & Bluedorn, 2003). To avoid this red herring

fallacy, one should divide each case under examination into various parts as possible for the

solution to the issue. Failure to understand a statement would lead to jumping to conclusions and

therefore dividing each case improves the understanding of the matters at hand. Other practices

include making enumerations so completes and comprehensive to ensure that the person is

assured that nothing relevant is omitted in the answer. Moreover, beginning the statement with

the things that are deemed simplest to understand is key to ensuring that a statement does not

FALLACY 4

have a fallacy (Benson, 2012). Moreover, it is important to question the logic of any statement

including demonstrating emotions or opinions. Additionally, it is important to consider the

number of problems in which an individual is responding to, for instance, if the problem is one,

then the answer is most likely to be one as opposed to if it was a series of questions (Withey,

Olstein, & Zhang, 2016).

FALLACY 5

References

Barnet, S., & Bedau, H. A. (2005). Current issues and enduring questions: A guide to critical

thinking and argument, with readings. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Benson, S. (2012). Logical fallacies and its applications. Delhi: Orange Apple.

Bluedorn, N., & Bluedorn, H. (2003). The fallacy detective: Thirty-six lessons on how to

recognize bad reasoning. Muscatine, Ia: Christian Logic.

The Fallacy Project: Examples of fallacies from advertising, politics, and popular culture

[Video file]. (2011, March 31). Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLTQi7vVsI

Sutter, C. M. (2016). Fallacy.

Withey, M., Olstein, J., & Zhang, H. (2016). Mastering logical fallacies: The definitive guide

to flawless rhetoric and bulletproof logic.

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