Ad Hominem Arguments

ad hominem: An attack on your opponent’s character or personal traits in an attempt to undermine their argument.

I’m convinced that far too much of our politics today takes the form of ad hominem attacks.  This is a cheap form of rebuttal, and actually no rebuttal at all.

Listen over the next week.  Listen to tweets and quotes.  You will find lots of ad hominem cheating.  Learn to call it out!  Learn to say, that’s just tearing down their appearance not their argument.  It is taking a cheap shot about their upbringing, not their ideas!

The result of an ad hom attack can be to undermine someone’s case without actually having to engage with it.

Learn to spot it.  And call it out as the gutter slander that it is.