This particular fallacy is often confused with the literary technique of ‘red herring’, but it’s a useful way of remembering what the fallacy is about. 

The origin of the phrase is discussed on the World Wide Words website, including the claim that it has something to do with hunting foxes. In short, it was only ever used as a metaphor about news stories distracting from the supposed defeat of Napoleon. And that’s what red herring, as a literary technique and fallacy is really about — distraction.

To commit a red herring in an argument is to create an irrelevant point or points that have derailing as its only purpose. In fiction, it’s a number of distracting elements (such as characters, or situations) that will lead you to false conclusions about the plot, such as ‘who the murderer really is’. 

And while a philosophical argument won’t necessarily have hiding a murderer (!) as its goal, a red herring can be just as manipulative as any good mystery author’s writing.