Given this discussion’s popularity, I’m amazed no one stumbled across the Traitorous Critic Fallacy (Ergo decedo).
That’s what I’m choosing as the correct answer, although this question may be impossible to answer definitively.
My book Fallacy Pro will be published next month (June 2021). In researching it, I’ve learned that the world of fallacy is even flakier than I at first thought.
According to Wikipedia, the traitorous critic fallacy is related to the tu quoque (“You, too”) fallacy. However, false dilemma - among the most popular choices in the answers to my question - also seems a good fit. In fact, false dilemma seems a better match than tu quoque to me.
Could the traitorous critic fallacy therefore be more accurately described as a variety of false dilemma?
The other possibility is that, as some have suggested, the traitorous critic fallacy isn’t an authentic fallacy itself. Which begs the question: Are the false dilemma and tu quoque authentic fallacies themselves?
The discovery of Charles Hamblin’s book Fallacies really helped me appreciate the fact that so many of the hundreds of fallacies floating around today are either variations of the core fallacies (which may number as few as 13-15), combinations of fallacies, or not authentic fallacies at all.
In summary, the traitorous critic fallacy, false dilemma and “not a fallacy” are all good candidates for an answer, and it’s even possible they could all be the correct answer simultaneously.
Fallacy Pro will feature a novel fallacy classification scheme, the traitorous critic fallacy will probably be listed or cross-referenced with the false dilemma, tu quoque and ad hominem.
P.S. This fallacy can actually be a combination of false dilemma and ambiguity, the latter commonly hinging on the word country. When a person criticizes Obama, Bill Gates, the media or the entire U.S. government or corporate sector, they’re often accused of hating “their country” when they’re in fact attacking the very things that have conspired to ruin their country. To put it another way, the fallacy tends to misrepresent people’s views, which makes it a little different than a classic false dilemma.