ELI5 Edition Discord Version Try the Political Version

No True Scotsman

The Fallacy

Making what could be called an appeal to purity as a way to dismiss relevant criticisms or flaws in an argument.

Why it's wrong

In this form of faulty reasoning one's belief is rendered unfalsifiable because no matter how compelling the evidence is, one simply shifts the goalposts so that it wouldn't apply to a supposedly 'true' example.

Example

When told that a peace-loving member of the club had started a fight, the club president insisted that no *true* member of the Peace Club would ever throw a punch, effectively expelling him by definition.