1) Red Herring Fallacy
(Purposeful ploy to change the topic)
This fallacy occurs when a person reply to their opponent by changing or altering the main subject or topic to something which is totally different. But there are times when the different topic can be lightly attached to the main subject which was under debate or argument. Whenever it happens, red herrings fallacy can be very difficult to detect. (leon, 2011)
For Example:
John: “The whole scientific community agrees that human beings activities are affecting the climate and if we keep going like this, things will be bad. Climate change is a serious problem for humans.”
George: “John you know what the main problem is? People believe everything they hear and watch on television. People will believe anything, whatever is said on television.”
Explanation of the Example: As we can see here john changes the complete subject from effect of human activities on climate change to people deceived by television. Rather than debating the main subject of climate change George changes the subject completely. George new topic fails to address the actual claim that john is making, and it is likely to start new debate on effects of television on people or gullibility of watching television. This new topic of George is a red herring because it is directing towards a completely different topic. (colorado education, n.d.)
2) Straw Man Fallacy
This fallacy occurs when a person tries to attack someone with a weak and distorted version of their argument (colorado education, n.d.), rather than debating the actual argument of that person. It’s called a straw man fallacy because the person starts different and a false point that the original arguer never said and puts his all energy arguing or attacking it, instead of the arguing on the actual premise (Mckay & McKay, 2011).
Example of Straw Man Fallacy
“Senator John wants to shut down the project for the new Australian Air Force fighter jet because he...