Does the art of deflection in political questions ever make you mad?

I will deflect a question back at them so maybe they will forget the one they asked of me?

I think that is exactly the point. I’m tired of people answering political questions with “but they did it too!”. That’s known as the tu quoque (you also) fallacy.

Now someone may be a hypocrite and that’s fair to point out, but that can be a totally different argument. It doesn’t invalidate the original claim.

1. Trump should stop doing X.
2. Obama did X too.
3. Therefore, we can stop talking about X.

It’s a fallacy because the argument is not about the character of the people involved but of X itself. Deflection is used to avoid talking about the original topic.

“X” being Stormy Daniels?

No that’s triple x @rebbel . ;)

Touché, @SQUEEKY2 :-)

I think we should blame the guy in charge for everything!

That will fix it!

It would be like getting mad at the wind, or a dog for panting. You might just as well complain to a hooker that her love for you seems somehow not genuine.

I blame the guy in charge for everything!!! I don’t care IF you’re the Manager of the department, the President of the company, the CEO of the corporation, the Head Librarian, Senator, Congressman, President, you name it…shit rolls down hill. The person on top gets paid the big bucks to maintain whatever is under them. Very few are forced to take the job. They aspire to have the job; so, take responsibility for the job. Deflecting simply changes the dynamics of the argument for a short amount of time. It remains that the truth is the TRUTH!!!

So you’re saying get used to it because nothing is ever going to change, I can’t honestly answer that question because it does indeed make my leader or party look like total scum bags, so I will ask a nasty question about their leader or party to get me off the hook for not answering their question, thus getting them on the defensive ?
Is that right @stanleybmanly ?
No wonder nothing productive ever comes from a discussion about politics.

I like your answer @LadyMarissa .Thank you.
I also like @Demosthenes answer,thank you as well.

You should start blaming the guy in charge @snowberry his actions alone, just hurt the crap out of a lot of American farmers, NOT his party,it was ole orange hair that went for these tariffs, quite e few of his party said they didn’t support him on them but he went with them anyways,did he not think those countries would respond with retaliatory tariffs of their own?
He called the ones against Canada , a matter of National security,HUH??? against Canada??
And to take on China when they hold so much US debt, really?? what if they start calling in those debt bonds?
Trump’s shoot from the hip strategy , is going to hurt more hard working Americans than you can possibly guess,it’s already started with the farmers shall we sit back and see who is next?
Now quick fire a deflective question back, because that seems to be the way, instead of answering anything.

As the current dummy so brilliantly demonstrates, politics is not about the truth. Now the one thing you have to give Trump is that he IS genuine. He is an AUTHENTIC liar, pussy snatcher and out and out scumbag. No matter how he fks up or whatever lies he tells, his adoring fans have the comfort of knowing he will always remain true to being himself.

VERY TRUE^^^ and yet it’s Hilary that should be locked up,talk about wag the dog.

“and yet it’s Hilary (sic) that should be locked up,talk about wag the dog.”
Okay Canadian EXPERT, what is it that she did? ? ? Republicans haven’t gotten anything yet, like 15 times running at the Benghazi with nothing. They want blood and can’t get a ticket for her driving too fast.

@Tropical_Willie I said that in jest, if the rep/cons could have had her fried or jailed for anything they would have done it by now, but they like keeping their loyal followers chanting lock her up, so it keeps them focused instead of seeing what a total goof ball their leader really is.

Same goes for political questions where the asker is just wanting their own opinions fed back to them.

MISSED your ~ ~ ~ and the J.K. at the end ! ;>)

What I’ve noticed is that many (most?) people who complain do it as a habit. They’d rather blame someone-anybody-rather than accepting responsibility. I’m not accusing anyone here, it’s just an observation.

Here’s an example. My granddaughter has brain cancer. She was bullied in school because of disruptive and weird behavior which she had no control over. It got to the point where she was refusing to go to school. Her mother was understandingly livid, and wanted to storm into the principal’s office and demand action on behalf of her daughter.

But her sister, who is an RN, and worked with many kids who had severe mental issues, suggested that instead of making demands, ask them, “How are we going to resolve this?”

I didn’t hear how the meeting went, but I didn’t hear anymore about bullying, and she was soon back in school.

Uh @snowberry Did you answer the right question??
I don’t really understand your answer,sorry .

@SQUEEKY2 Uh, that was my point. You missed it entirely. I’m wasting my time here.

I guess I did ,I still don’t understand what your answer has regarding my question.
I don’t want you to feel like your wasting your time ,I simply don’t understand the answer.
What does that answer have to do with deflective answering to political questions?

If @snowberry doesn’t want to explain her answer could someone else explain it for me?

I’m sorry @SQUEEKY2 I don’t have a lot of time, and I was impatient.

What I’m saying is people like to blame someone to avoid being responsible for their part in the problem. It’s a lazy way to live life, but we all tend to do it from time to time. Some of us never grow out of it. I saw it on the Q about the Canadian woman getting arrested for no good reason. Instead of considering that there were many forces involved (and I gave a very relevant personal example, but it was ignored).

“Blame the president!” If that’s not deflection, then it doesn’t exist. The question just eroded into silliness.

I thought @snowberry was giving us an example of deflection!!! ;)

How many people went out to pick wildflowers and came home with chiggers? I did!

^^ (@snowberry doing her best to deflect the question) —Are you happy now?—

Sometimes I think people see different things in questions. If a question is “What do you think about…?” but the asker is only looking for a specific view point, then any other view points would be considered “wrong” by the asker. So let’s say a person gives their viewpoint on a topic and others then disagree with their viewpoint. If they voice their disagreement, aren’t they then deflecting the question? They are arguing with someone that answered the question. If it is considered acceptable to voice a disagreement and anything else is brought up as an example to support the disagreement, is that considered a deflection? I would suggest not. But the problem seems to be that what happens in practice is that we start down this path. I voice an opinion, he disagrees with me using an example of X. I think X is a bad example because of Y. He brings up J, K, and L to show that Y is not right. Pretty soon we are way off topic, though it was the debate of the original topic that took us there.

I see where your going @seawulf575 , so let me give an example what I consider a basic deflection.
Example, I ask you is Trump ever going to make right for those 14 women he sexually assaulted ?
Then you ask well is Clinton ever going to make right to the families of those men she got killed in Benghazi ?
That is my example of what I call deflection.
You didn’t come back with well my wife had that mole on her leg removed that had been bugging her for years, although I have seen that kind of deflection done.
I have seen the opinion thing done as you described, I have been guilty of it myself when I go on a rant about smart phones, sorry everybody but I still dislike those things.

@SQUEEKY2 Sometimes that “deflection” is nothing more than an observation. Using your example, you ask if President Trump is ever going to make right for those 14 women he sexually assaulted? Then, there are endless comments about what a douchebag Trump is and how he preys on women and how it is an absolute outrage. I’m actually okay with all those sentiments, EXCEPT…it is from the same people that will avoid even discussing the allegations against Clinton. I see that as hypocrisy. Now my first answer to your question is “allegedly assaulted”. Right now there is nothing other than accusations. With that answer I would get attacked about making excuses for Trump and hating women and whatever other idiocy is out there. Eventually with accusations like that coming at me, I will ask about the hypocrisy. “So what is your feeling about Clinton? Should he make right with the dozens of women he assaulted? Raped in one case?” At that point, I’m deflecting even though to me, it is the exact same question. I see the question as “should our president be expected to abide by the law and atone for his sins”. I would say the answer is yes, he should. But it should apply to all presidents. It isn’t a deflection to me, it is an inclusion or expansion. If you feel accusations are enough for President Trump, why aren’t they good enough for Clinton?
The problem I see with many of these political debates is the same one I see with our government. We apply different standards to different people. We want to hold some to a very high standard while we make excuses for others who do the exact same thing. You should know by now that I am about law and order. If it came out and was proven that President Trump actually sexually assaulted a woman, I would say he needs to own that. But you have seen that we have a media that doesn’t want to hold all comers to the same standard and you have seen that echoed on these pages. They bring out Stormy Daniels as a way to say President Trump is a scumbag. They try saying he should be impeached for having an affair because Bill Clinton was. That is a false statement. Bill Clinton had an affair with a willing idiot. That isn’t a crime. But when asked about it, he lied under oath. That is perjury. And then he tried using the power of his office to interfere with the investigation. That is abuse of power. And those were the two charges for which he was impeached…not for having an affair. If he had, at the beginning, admitted to the affair, the whole thing would have blown over. In fact his approval rating would probably have gone up. Instead he lied about it. With the Trump/Daniels issue, President Trump has not testified under oath about it. He isn’t required to. Having a consensual affair is not a crime so there is nothing to testify about. Personally, I’ve seen Stormy Daniels and I’ve seen Melania Trump. I know which one I would rather be with. But powerful men often want the feeling of conquest. I dunno…I’m not a powerful man…I don’t get it.
But I digress, as I often do. I have been challenged a number of times just as I mentioned how I would challenge someone. I have, I believe, stayed true to my ideals. A crime is a crime. Dem. Repub, Indy…I don’t care. If you commit a crime you need to be held accountable. But it has to be a crime…not just an accusation. I hope I have given you some insight into my attitude about “deflection”.

Thank you @seawulf575 . You said that so eloquently and succinctly.