#1. To: Original_Intent, TwentyTwelve, Uncle Bill, scrapper2, christine, noone222, buckeye, Rotara, nobody, James Deffenbach, farmfriend, Hayek Fan, Tom007, X-15, IndieTX, gengis ghandi, bush_is_a_moonie, Pinguinite, texaslvr77, who knows what evil, Tauzero, All (#0)
That's as many names as I could fit.
Happy WWIV.
"...This is not a government of, by and for the people it is a government of, by and for the corporation and by definiton, when business controls government that is inescapably; Fascism." ~ David Von Kleist
"...This is not a government of, by and for the people it is a government of, by and for the corporation and by definiton, when business controls government that is inescapably; Fascism." ~ David Von Kleist
Argumentum Ad-hominem: Shoot the messenger fallacy.
This is a common logical fallacy. Argumentum ad hominem basically means that the argument becomes directed towards the individual as opposed towards the crucial issues being discussed. It is succinctly described as, attack the messenger not the message (hence – shoot the messenger). It is often seen in both politics and pseudoscience. Its aim is to undermine the position of ones opponent, by undermining the opponent personally (in a manner that is actually completely irrelevant to the debate). The hope here is that if one can discredit the individual, this by default, discredits his / her argument. It does not. The fallacy here relates to the irrelevance of the attack. It is not viable to argue against a position and then justify that argument by criticising the individual who holds it.
The hope here is that if one can discredit the individual, this by default, discredits his / her argument. It does not.
Actually, it does.
And it works the other way too. Ideas are given credit according to their source.
Hardly anybody ever objects to that -- they might themselves be a creditable source some day!
;-)
Anyway, knowledge is not free, and behaviors in both directions economize on knowledge costs. On this basis, it's not wrong or even illogical. It's a law of mass human interaction, and you have to account for it.