Other countries argue that if we are serious about disarming we should go ahead and disarm to show our good intentions, but this is irrational, for we could make the same argument about them. We should not be too severe in our condemnation of the salesperson; we have all lied at one point or another. It is irrational to condemn a person for wrongs committed by everybody. One should not dismiss the philosopher's argument that matter does not exist by pointing out that the philosopher acts as though matter exists. People's actions have no effect on the strength of their arguments. When one country accuses another country of violating human rights standards, the accused country can reduce the damage to its reputation by drawing attention to the human rights record of its accuser because this tactic distracts critical attention.
It is common to respond to a person who is exhorting us to change our behavior by drawing attention to that person' s own behavior. This response, however, is irrational. Whether or not someone in fact heeds his or her own advice is irrelevant to whether that person' s advice should be heeded.
Which one of the following arguments is most similar in its reasoning to the argument above?