People thinking any mention of a personal attribute of the other person is an “ad hominem.”
That’s not what “argumentum ad hominem” means.
Here’s an example.
“You are wrong, because [a long list of logic, with good supporting evidence from credible sources], you [enterinsult].”
That is not an ad hominem. Here’s an example of what would be:
“You are wrong, because you are a [enterinsult.]”
I’m not inventing this shit. I’m not generalising. He is an Israeli person by all accounts, and he’s touting IDF propaganda. So in this case, it is actually factual as well. In most cases, people are using ad hominem, because they’re going “no, we don’t need to listen to you, because you are a [enterfactioninsult]”. That IS an ad hominem. Deconstructing the actual rhetoric used by the IDF and calling the other person a troll for refusing to engage with any of the evidence is actually, factual, and not the argument I’m making.
“Elevate the discourse.”
You know I’m so tired of this. I’m honestly tired of people getting more worked up about a mild insult online than they are of actual genocide going on. If I could count the times someone’s gotten mad and used that as an excuse to highroad me, oh boy, it’d be in the tens of thousands. It’s ridiculous. There are far more pressing issues in the world than trying “not cuss” at other people.
It’s infuriating honestly. Especially when it’s a really mild and accurate “insulting” description from a comment in which I actually make a proper argument, with sources. In my opinion, that sort of “no we can’t use that kind of language” is exactly the sort of attitude why bad people are in power in the world. Because people think “you should always respect the person you’re talking to.” Fuck that. I’m not going to respect a person who is defending the genocide of children. No, sir, I will not.
And we shouldn’t respect the billionaires and other fuckers either. There’s the disconnect. We all want to live in a good world, and want everyone to be respectful and respectable, but not everyone is, and the people who keep exploiting every normal, respectable person, don’t deserve respect. And we should make it very clear to them.
The paradox of tolerance states that if a society’s practice of tolerance is inclusive of the intolerant, intolerance will ultimately dominate, eliminating the tolerant and the practice of tolerance with them.