Diversion works by changing the subject, giving a vague or rambling non-answer, or raising an unrelated grievance instead of engaging with the actual question — keeping the other person chasing tangents instead of ever pinning down a real answer. George Simon frames this as one of the simplest and most common manipulation tactics precisely because it doesn't require lying: the manipulator never says anything false, they just never say anything responsive either.
Simon's diagnostic rule is straightforward: any answer that's meaningfully longer, shorter, or entirely different from what a direct question calls for is itself evidence something is being avoided. The corrective isn't to argue with the diversion — it's to notice that a real answer never arrived, and to calmly redirect back to the original question until it does.