Rhetoric
Tactical moves that derail, deflect, or shut down a discussion by redirecting attention away from the substance of the argument.
| Fallacy | Trigger – look for… |
|---|---|
| Whataboutism | A specific criticism is deflected by pointing to other groups' similar or worse actions, with the effect of blocking any resolution of the original issue. |
| Strawman argument | The opponent's argument or position is replaced with a distorted, oversimplified, or fabricated version, and that weaker version is refuted as if it were the original claim. |
| Appeal to Emotion | A position is supported primarily or exclusively by an appeal to the audience's emotions (pity, fear, outrage, guilt, hope, pride, flattery) rather than by factual arguments. |
| Argument by Emotion | The speaker's own emotional state (hurt, sadness, anger) is used as pressure – often inducing guilt – to make the counterpart concede or drop a point, rather than as an argument. Specialised form of “appeal to emotion”. |
| Fear-mongering | A threat (real or exaggerated) is framed in alarmist, fear-inducing terms that create urgency and present one specific response as the only way to avoid disaster – implicitly equating deliberation, proportionality, or alternatives with accepting the risk. Specialised form of “appeal to emotion”. |
| Argumentum ad baculum | A position of power is used to make the counterpart concede: an explicit or implicit threat of negative consequences (harm, punishment, loss of benefits, social damage) is used instead of reasons. |
| No true Scotsman | A universal claim about a group is rescued from a counterexample by redefining membership with an ad hoc purity criterion (“no true/real X…”). |
| Gish gallop | A large number of claims, arguments, or citations presented simultaneously (or in rapid succession) to overwhelm the capacity for individual evaluation and rebuttal (of a live opponent, an audience, or subsequent fact-checkers) – quantity over quality. |
| Tone policing | An argument's content is dismissed or invalidated because of how it was expressed – emotional intensity, volume, perceived rudeness – instead of engaging with the substance. |
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