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A few days ago an artist came to present his work to our class.

At the beginning of his presentation he said "I know cultural appropriation is a very loaded topic, and it occupies my mind often" as a means to absolve himself from receiving criticism pertaining to cultural appropriation in his own work.

As presented to us, it seemed like he felt that the very act of acknowledging the issue is somehow similar to actually dealing / engaging with it.

I have a sense, though I cannot recall specific examples, that I have seen politicians do this often. They think they are dealing with an issue just by recognizing its existence.

I'm not sure if this fallacy has a name, but if it does, I'm struggling to find it.

I hope my question and description are clear.

Can anyone help?

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  • Why "logic" ??? – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jul 25 '19 at 6:47
  • I thought that since it's a logical fallacy it deserves the "logic" tag, but I'm new to this branch of the Stack Exchange network, so if an admin believes it's the wrong tag, they are welcome to remove it. I won't be offended. – Michael Seltenreich Jul 25 '19 at 7:01
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    Sounds similar to ignoratio elenchi (Latin for 'ignoring refutation'), presenting an argument whose conclusion does not address the issue. A simple mention is not exactly an argument, so I am not sure the post's example is a fallacy (mistake in reasoning) rather than a plain misjudgment. And it would only be a mistake (of some sort) if presented as addressing an issue, rather than a passing remark in moving on to what one wishes to address instead. That is just being sensitive to the audience's concerns. – Conifold Jul 25 '19 at 7:05
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    Not everything that people say is an argument, so not everything can be fallacious. – curiousdannii Jul 25 '19 at 7:27
  • that's a fair point @curiousdannii thought outside context (which i don't really know) it does read a bit like 'but' can replace 'and' – user38026 Jul 25 '19 at 7:52

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