Red Herring

Politicians often use rhetorical fallacies in their arguments to make what they are saying appear more correct, and to encourage their audience to agree with what they are saying. A convincing fallacy that is often used is the Red Herring argument. This fallacy is an attempt at distracting an audience from the main point so that they will not see the flaws in the argument being made. Often the distractions have an emotional appeal, which brings an audience in and tends to make them agree with the Politian more fully.

To recognize this fallacy, one must pay attention to what the main topic of the argument being made is. Once a speaker has strayed away from that topic to bring in emotional issues that do not have to do with the main point, than it is safe to say that the speaker is putting the fallacy of Red Herring into practice. This tool is effective to use because it distracts from many times controversial subjects, and focuses on another subject that most people will find common ground with, even though it is not directly related.

I have seen the effectiveness of this fallacy myself when I have fallen victim to it in President Nixon’s resignation speech from 1979. The President uses the Red Herring fallacy very effectively. In the speech he briefly addresses the issue at hand, which is that he knowingly spied on the Democratic party, and then attempted to cover it up by denying that he had any knowledge or role in the crime. After he tells the United States what is to be done after his resignation, he goes on to list all of his accomplishments as President, which takes up half of his speech. He talks of how he has improved international relationships with the Middle East, China, and the Soviet Union. He then goes on to talk about the success the United States has had in ending a war during his presidency. Nixon also takes a moment to list his personal accomplishments, stating that he has served the United States as a Congressman, Senator, Vice President and President. While all of these things are good, they do not address the issue at hand, which is that the President committed a crime, and then lied to the American people about it. The reason he utilized the Red Herring fallacy was because it illustrated to the public not what he did wrong, but all the accomplishments he made, all the while making US citizens feel proud of their country and the recent successes that were made. When I read the President’s speech for the first time, I could not help but fell proud of the accomplishments that were made, and that was exactly the point.