Staying on Track

Defending yourself against red herrings takes discipline:

• Name it directly: "That is interesting, but it does not address my question"
• Write down the original topic before discussions so you can return to it
• Keep asking "How does this relate to the point?" until you get a real answer
• Watch the emotional pull — if a response makes you feel something but answers nothing, suspect a red herring
• Remember that relevance is the only test — an irrelevant truth is still a fallacy

The best debaters are not the ones with the flashiest distractions. They are the ones who relentlessly return to the actual question.