Red Herring Fallacy
Also known as: Red Herring, Diversion, Diversionary Tactic
Formulated by William Cobbett (1807)
Definition
A rhetorical maneuver that redirects a discussion toward a secondary, tangential element (spelling, phrasing, tone, a minor detail) instead of answering the actual question. Rather than engaging with the substance of the disagreement, the diverter introduces a point that seems loosely related but is really beside the point, hoping attention shifts and the original question goes unanswered. The name traces to an 1807 anecdote by British journalist William Cobbett, who described dragging a red (smoked) herring across a hare's trail to throw hunting dogs off the scent; historians now believe Cobbett invented the anecdote himself to illustrate his point, but the image stuck as the standard term for the fallacy.