Ah, good. The genetic fallacy.

An example from the Wikipedia page:
“You’re not going to wear a wedding ring, are you? Don’t you know that the wedding ring originally symbolized ankle chains worn by women to prevent them from running away from their husbands?”

Lynn wrote:

I’ve since found a couple other sites that speak of the origin of the claim, as well as the origin of the thing being discussed, so I think it was the genetic fallacy, yes.

Good one

Thank you, Lynn.

I will say though, that like you, I was a little puzzled at first by that site’s definition of the genetic fallacy.  In fact, like you, I was of the understanding that the genetic fallacy was strictly a mistake in reasoning whereby the arguer asserts the validity/invalidity of a certain thing based on that subject’s origins (e.g., “that can’t be a pure-bred cat because it comes from Spain.”).  I didn’t know that it could be expanded to include the origin of the claim itself, or the thing being discussed.

Thanks for playing along with me!

Sometimes it’s hard to pin only one fallacy on an example. I think this example may be a genetic fallacy, but it’s not a clear one. Fallacies are general ways of describing errors in reasoning. Some overlap. They’re not black and white.