Avoiding the Question is a common fallacy. People do this a lot!
NEWS REPORTER CODY: Senator Bill, do you think Senate Bill 747 will save money?
SENATOR BILL: Well, Cody, I just want to say the healthcare system in America is broke. Just yesterday I was walking downtown and I met this homeless guy. He was homeless, but even more, he was without heathcare! I think he needs help. Until America wakes up, we’re all in trouble!
Notice how Sentator Bill ignores Cody’s question. He talks about something else - what he wants to talk about. He says nothing about Senate Bill 747. If News Reporter Cody asked Senator Bill about the space program, Senator Bill would give the same answer.
Fox News Interviews President Obama
Fox News asks President Obama questions in this beginning of this video, but Obama avoids the questions. What is a question Obama avoids in this video?
Fox News Interviews Rush Limbaugh
Fox News asks Rush Limbaugh questions in this video, but Limbaugh answers different questions. What is a question Limbaugh avoids in this video?
Has anyone ever avoided a question you asked? Do you think it is okay to hijack a conversation to say what you want?
Copyright March 20, 2010, all rights reserved. 20790 views
1 • Shannon R • March 20, 2010 • 8:59 AM
If you read the comments below Obama’s video, it’s obvious that the majority of people didn’t even notice the switched answers… the “hijack”, if you will.
It’s so sad to see how the “leaders” of any country (I’m Canadian, and we’ve got this problem too!) simply ignore what’s been asked on behalf of the public they’ve been “hired” to serve.
Thanks for this post!
Blessings
Shannon R
2 • amy mom • March 20, 2010 • 11:45 AM
rush wasnt avoiding a question he was being honest about whats happening to r country if they take over healthcare
3 • David fuchs • March 20, 2010 • 12:10 PM
Where did you think Rush avoided the questions?
4 • India • March 20, 2010 • 12:16 PM
Oh wow, I literally could not listen to the entire video. If our President wants to be treated with respect, shouldn’t he talk to people with respect. I mean as if the fallacies were not enough, couldn’t he remember the basic rules of the playground and “take his turn?” Having grown up all around the world, I am positive that even in Indonesia he was taught to behave as a youngster.
5 • Ralph Snow • March 20, 2010 • 12:31 PM
It’s interesting how some people here get excited when Democrats use fallacies, but when a Republican uses a fallacy it becomes an act of heroism.
6 • Loren Wright • March 20, 2010 • 1:00 PM
I’m with Mr. Snow on this. As Americans, we must put policy aside and keep our leaders accountable. If that means that logical fallacies are exposed even in our own camp. I do agree, however, that respect must be given as well as respected. Answer the questions, sir! This is a terrible interview. I hear a lot of rhetoric and nonspecific dialogue, but no direct, detailed answer to any questions. My dad always called that beating around the bush.
7 • Hans Bluedorn • March 20, 2010 • 2:17 PM
I think this happens in more places than politics. Have you ever been in a conversation with somebody who had an agenda? They didn’t seem interested in you and your questions at all, they just wanted to download their perspective onto you.
8 • nbluedorn • March 20, 2010 • 3:07 PM
Teachers who use our book may find it useful to ask students to list the questions Obama and Limbaugh avoid in these videos.
9 • Bob • March 20, 2010 • 11:23 PM
At the very opening of Brett Baier’s interview of President Obama, he confronts Obama with a contradiction in Obama’s own words and then asks a yes-or-no question about it, which Obama does not answer. Obama answers some unasked question of his own making and ends up saying that what Baier is asking is not important.
Then Baier reads some e-mail questions that were sent to him, but makes the mistake of citing how many e-mails he received - 18,000. Obama then one-ups that number by stating that he gets 40,000 a day of the same kind, as if that fact closes the case; he never responds to the questions asked in the emails Baier read. Because he gets the same kind of e-mails at the White House, he could have just told Baier how he answers those; I guess he ignores them, too, or sends the questioner several pages of off-topic rhetoric.
Perhaps in merely ignoring Baier’s questions and parroting the information that he decided beforehand to dispense, Obama is not really committing logical fallacies; he’s just “staying on message” with what his handlers told him to hammer.
10 • Jeannon Kralj • April 01, 2010 • 6:18 AM
1. The question Obama avoids in the first video is…“Do you support the use use of this slaughter rule, the deem and pass rule, so that Democrats avoid a straight up or down vote on the senate bill?”
2. A question Limbaugh avoids in this second video is “With tens of millions of Americans still uninsured, do you think the government has any moral obligation to find some way to cover them?
3. I can remember one time, trying to make casual conversation with a co-worker in a social setting, the co-worker simply ignored my question and started speaking on a completely different topic. (I recall it because I thought it was go consumately rude.)
4. “Do you think it is okay to hijack a conversation to say what you want?”
I think this question is the “argument by question” fallacy, variants of which are the “rhetorical question” or the “loaded question.”
Is this a conversation we are having? What does it mean to “hijack” a “conversation”?
Obama and most media personalities are old hands at avoiding the question and one’s being able to avoid the question without being detected is the hallmark of a “alick” politician or media personality.
Most of the American TV viewing audience are dumber than a box of rocks and wouldn’t recognize an avoided question no matter how clearly that had been done.
11 • Skye • May 26, 2010 • 4:36 AM
What many are probably not aware of is that public figures are thoroughly coached by their media-relations and PR people specifically on how to deal with the media…particularly in the area of “verbal fencing” or dealing with tricky questions. Whenever I witness these avoidance techniques, I always wonder what they’re hoping to avoid addressing head-on.
12 • Chris • May 26, 2010 • 10:59 AM
Logical fallacies need to be differentiated from public relations maneuvering. I don’t think either of these men would claim to be making logical arguments in their answers (a la debates).
13 • Carl • May 26, 2010 • 11:51 AM
I don’t think avoiding the question is always wrong - the people asking the questions often have agendas as well. Even Jesus sometimes avoided the questions that the Pharisees and teachers of the law put to Him.
14 • Rene • June 03, 2010 • 9:53 AM
Jesus was not hired by the people to do a job in which the primary goal is to serve the people. I’m afraid that argument is a fallacy as well. While the media may also have an agenda, it is in the best interest of the job to answer the question put forward. It would earn the respect of voters and demonstrate reciprocal humility and respect, both sorely lacking in our administration.
15 • Carl • June 08, 2010 • 4:19 PM
I was not commenting on whether Obama was right or wrong to avoid the question. I was commenting on the question stated at the end of this piece: “Do you think it is okay to hijack a conversation to say what you want?” It is ironic that the majority of the responses here have not been answering the question, but have in fact been avoiding it.