a logical fallacy attempting to redirect the argument to another issue that to which the person doing the redirecting can better respond.
The red herring is as much a debate tactic as it is a logical fallacy. It is a fallacy of distraction, and is committed when a listener attempts to divert an arguer from his argument by introducing another topic. This can be one of the most frustrating, and effective, fallacies to observe.
The fallacy gets its name from fox hunting, specifically from the practice of using smoked herrings, which are red, to distract hounds from the scent of their quarry. Just as a hound may be prevented from catching a fox by distracting it with a red herring, so an arguer may be prevented from proving his point by distracting him with a tangential issue.
Examples
X: -It is morally wrong to cheat on your partner, why would you do something like that?
Y: -What is morality?
X: -It’s a code of conduct shared among people.
Y: -But who determines this code?…
X: How could the universe be only 6000 years old, when by the speed of light we can now mesure the distance to astronomical objects more than 13 billion light years away by the fact of their light that has now reached us?
Y: 6000 years is not a firm number. The universe can be as old as about 10,000 years.
X: How do you figure?…