Rhetorical trick
False Equivalence
Present two things as morally or logically equal when their scale is very different.
A minor issueTreated as equal to a major one
Present two things as morally or logically equal when their scale is very different.
Example
"Missing a filing deadline is just as bad as the embezzlement case last year."
A false equivalence puts two things side by side as if they’re comparable, glossing over a real difference in scale, intent, or consequence.
Two things can share a surface-level category (both are “policy violations,” both are “mistakes”) while being wildly different in severity. Naming the shared category doesn’t make the severity the same.
Ask what specifically makes the two things equal, beyond the label used to describe them both.