Question

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Rebecca Jerstice

Is this a red herring or something else? Use of two word phrase to comment on a much larger argument eg discussion on mental health answer ‘modern Britain’

Something I’ve seen a lot recently is to reply to a wide ranging debate with a one word or short phrase such as ; teen depression rates triple’ reply ‘modern britian’ this sort of behaviour stifles debate and in some way implies that the commentator is correct... what type of fallacy is this?
asked on Friday, Oct 19, 2018 04:03:31 PM by Rebecca Jerstice

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Answers

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mchasewalker
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Hi Rebecca,

Offhand the case might be made for Argument by Gibberish (see Dr. Bo's lists)
(also known as: bafflement, argument by jargon) but the way the question is framed
it's difficult to even determine if there is a fallacy at all. You might try rewording it and asking again.

Best
answered on Friday, Oct 19, 2018 04:45:33 PM by mchasewalker

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David Franks
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Person B didn't offer enough of a response to demonstrate a flaw in reasoning and so the response shouldn't be considered a fallacy. The two words don't even constitute a sentence; they are an adjective and a proper noun. Instead of rebutting Person A's statement with a counterstatement (which might have contained a fallacy), Person B appears to have offered an example of the situation described by Person A. As such, it may or may not be accurate, but if it is inaccurate, then it is incorrect, not fallacious.
answered on Sunday, Oct 21, 2018 02:53:41 AM by David Franks

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