Styleforum › Forums › General › General Chat › Identify the red herring in this discussion
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Identify the red herring in this discussion

post #1 of 7
6/3/10 at 1:16pm
Thread Starter 
A few friends of mine and I were discussing the perfect game fiasco from last night. The issue was does baseball need replay. One argument was baseball does not need replay, because it would slow down the game. The other argument was baseball does need replay, because it would enhance the game. In addition, replay does not slow down the game. The game is slow because of other issues, like slow pitchers, long batting routines, etc.

The topic of this discussion is irrelevant to my post. My friends and I got into a side discussion about whether or not neither, one, or both of these arguments contained red herrings.

Settle a debate for us by explaining whether or not you see a red herring and why. Thanks.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 7
6/3/10 at 1:22pm
Firstly, those aren't reasons for why or why not you would NEED replay, they're just the potential causes of adding/not the replay might have. More to do with weather or not you'd want them rather then the actual cost/benefit of replay. It's also not really clear what's meant by "enhance" the game IMO. Secondly, after presenting the issue, and two viewpoints, it's quite obvious that the narrative then attempts to dismiss one of the premises in favor of having the replay, but it doesn't actually do so. The statement says the game is slow for other reasons, but it doesn't actually address/deny that replay is a contirbuting factor, it just says there are others as well.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 7
6/3/10 at 1:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zbromer View Post
A few friends of mine and I were discussing the perfect game fiasco from last night. The issue was does baseball need replay. One argument was baseball does not need replay, because it would slow down the game. The other argument was baseball does need replay, because it would enhance the game. In addition, replay does not slow down the game. The game is slow because of other issues, like slow pitchers, long batting routines, etc.

The topic of this discussion is irrelevant to my post. My friends and I got into a side discussion about whether or not neither, one, or both of these arguments contained red herrings.

Settle a debate for us by explaining whether or not you see a red herring and why. Thanks.

Slow pitchers, long batting routines, etc. is the red herring. Whether they exist or not is not relevant to the discussion of whether or not instant replay will slow the game down (further).
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 7
6/3/10 at 1:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark from Plano View Post
Slow pitchers, long batting routines, etc. is the red herring. Whether they exist or not is not relevant to the discussion of whether or not instant replay will slow the game down (further).

+1

This is it. Not relevant to the specific argument.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 7
6/3/10 at 1:27pm
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/fallacies.html

This provides a good breakdown of some of the most common logical fallacies.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 7
6/3/10 at 1:55pm
I dunno' man...after yesterday's game, I kind of think it wouldn't be such a bad thing for major calls. A fekking perfect game!!!!! COME ON!
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 7
6/3/10 at 2:46pm
Yep, I'm with Mark. However, if you wanted to get very technical, I suppose you could say that "baseball does not need replay because it would slow down the game" is also a red herring. Whether or not is slows down the game is not relevant to whether or not the game needs replay. It is relevant to a broad discussion of the use of replay in baseball, but it doesn't necessarily relate specifically to the narrower question. Overall, though, that argument would be pretty silly, as it depends on a very specific framing of the question, and I'm sure your overall discussion was broader.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: General Chat
Styleforum › Forums › General › General Chat › Identify the red herring in this discussion