Fallacy of relative privation

For the sociological term, see relative deprivation.

The fallacy of relative privation, or appeal to bigger problems, is an informal fallacy in which it is stated an opponent's arguments should be dismissed or ignored, on the grounds that more important problems exist, regardless of whether these problems are relevant to the question at hand or not.

A well-known example of this fallacy is the response "but there are children starving in Africa," with the implication that any issue less serious is not worthy of discussion.

See also

• Whataboutism
• False dilemma
• Nirvana fallacy
• Pollyanna
• First World problem
• Think of the children
• Thought-terminating cliché

External links

• Lee J. Ballard. "Fallacies."