After the tragic death of Amanda Todd, a young BC girl who recently committed suicide after being bullied, many have claimed that she deserved it based on some of her alleged actions. This is a logical fallacy and it’s time for people to reevaluate their current perspectives on what justifies bullying, as well as how we as a society should react to bullying. Anything Todd allegedly did before her death doesn’t justify the bullying and torment that led this young girl to take her own life.
In logic, presenting an argument that doesn’t address the issue in question, but instead draws attention to a new issue, is called ignoratio elenchi, or the fallacy of distraction. This is exactly what is happening here; detractors are using accusations that Todd had been indecently exposing herself online to draw away from, and, to some extent, even justify the anguish she ensued, and her subsequent suicide.
This diverts people’s attention from what has occurred, which is something that we, as a society, need to be examining and making a conscious effort to amend: someone was bullied, teased, and shamed, and, as a result of that, has committed suicide. No matter what she or anyone else has done, the fact that people are driven to suicide by bullying, and it becomes their only means of escape, should never be an accepted verdict.