General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Apples and oranges" arguments - there's a name for this
I'm seeing this on FB a lot. For example, a response to a post about the Women's March will be "how can you complain when women in the Middle East have no rights." Huh? It's true but what does that have to do with American womens' rights being threatened?
The latest one is in response to the refugee crisis - "but Bill Clinton banned illegal immigrants in 1995!" Again, huh? We're talking about people who went through all the hoops to get here and are still denied.
There's a name for this kind of argument, it's in Wikipedia and someone posted the name and definition on FB recently but I can't find it. Would love to have this handy for rebuttals.
Anyone?
JaneQPublic
(7,116 posts)A non sequitur (Latin for "it does not follow" , an inference or a conclusion that does not follow from the premises.
skylucy
(3,841 posts)The name for it is BULLSHIT.
ck4829
(35,704 posts)Argument A is presented by person 1.
Person 2 introduces argument B.
Argument A is abandoned.
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/150/Red-Herring
Croney
(4,859 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)Proud Liberal Dem
(24,768 posts)Just because women have it worse in the ME doesn't mean that women shouldn't be protesting here about things that are happening to women HERE. We have no shortage of unenlightened (mostly male) legislators trying to curtail rights for women here and a slim majority of people in this country, including some women, voted a guy into the Presidency with clear issues with how to talk to/treat women. Anyhoo, the Republican Tea Party got to have their protests about the phantom "Tyranny" and "Socialism" of President Obama and his health care law for the past 8 years, so maybe they shouldn't protest and be thankful they don't live somewhere with REAL tyranny and oppression, like, say, North Korea? When people say stuff like that, I feel like they're being dismissive of legitimate concerns. Everybody's feelings are valid and we have a right to express our feelings about how things are in this country even if you disagree with them. Period.
Also, not sure of all of the details but I'm pretty sure that whatever they're saying Bill Clinton (or Barack Obama) might have done in the past regarding immigration is almost certainly not quite comparable to what Trump did the other day with his EO (which obviously was not very well thought out and probably not even vetted).
trotsky
(49,533 posts)I.e., "not as bad as." http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Not_as_bad_as
The other one I guess would fit as a "tu quoque" (you too!) even though the Clinton/Obama actions are not the same thing.
Freddie
(9,587 posts)Greybnk48
(10,342 posts)HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)It's how they get to argue that there's no poverty here because our citizens aren't eating breakfast bugs or living in tents amid dust storms or mud huts.