False Equivalence
Treating two things as equivalent over a shared surface trait, despite a major difference.
- informal
A false equivalence draws a comparison between two things based on a shared surface feature while glossing over differences in scale, severity, or kind that make them genuinely unalike. The shared feature is real but trivial next to the differences it is being used to paper over.
Examples
- “Jaywalking and armed robbery are both crimes, so it's hypocritical to punish one far more harshly than the other.”
- “My weekend hobby blog and a national newspaper are both media, so my reporting is just as trustworthy as theirs.”
Why it works & how to counter
Persuasive because a genuine shared feature makes the comparison sound fair. Counter it by asking whether that similarity really matters as much as the differences being brushed aside.