Appeal to Ridicule and Ad Hominem
April 22, 2009
Gonzo of the Gonzolog has a nice post up concerning the logical fallacy of “appeal to ridicule”, which has been defined as “a fallacy in which ridicule or mockery is substituted for evidence in an argument”. You should go read the whole thing, but I just want to make one point of my own.
The thing about appeal to ridicule and ad hominem is that they are both thrown around indiscriminately and incorrectly by dumbfucks who don’t like it when people mock them for being dumbfucks. If you are a ridiculous fucking idiot and I ridicule you for being a ridiculous idiot, that is neither appeal to ridicule or ad hominem.
It is only appeal to ridicule or ad hominem if we are engaged in argument and I argue that *because* you are a ridiculous fucking idiot, your assertions must be false. If we are not engaged in argument, and I mock you for being a ridiculous dumbfuck merely because it amuses me to make fun of you for being a ridiculous dumbfuck, then there is no ad hominem or appeal to ridicule fallacy.
And one last thing: just because *you* claim we are engaged in argument, doesn’t mean we are. Dumbfucks spouting gibberish and then petulantly stamping their feet and demanding “rational argument” and “reasoned responses” frequently deserve nothing but mockery. This is especially the case when *you* approach *me* and start spouting dumbfuck gibberish.
April 22, 2009 at 7:27 am
You moronic motherfucker, it’s totally fucking retarded to hold that ridicule and insult are ever acceptable. And stop swearing, goddamnit! It fucking offends me.
April 22, 2009 at 7:32 am
Dude, you know I love you, but it really hurts a substantial number of people to hear the word “retarded” used as a generic insult. Please don’t do that here. Insult is, of course, fantastic, but insults based on slurs of marginalized or oppressed groups of people is not.
April 22, 2009 at 8:43 am
It’s even better than that.
What you do is the exact opposite of appeal to ridicule or ad hominem. Instead of claiming that their assertions must be false because they’re total nutjobs, you mock them for being total nutjobs because their assertions are so very ludicrously false!
April 22, 2009 at 10:42 am
Hahaha! That’s just so true!!!
The funny thing about this is that their line of reasoning is fallacious. (Argument from silence and style over substance).
After someone told me this week, that I *can’t* even disprove an argument, because I *refused* to argue with him, I decided it’s about time I make a series on fallacies.
Thanks for linking to me!
April 22, 2009 at 10:51 am
The hilarious thing is that most of these fartnozzles are too fucking stupid to understand the argument that you make in *this post*.
April 22, 2009 at 11:03 am
Give `em heck Bro.
Fuck `em if they don’t realize they’re the fucking joke.
Take Down! Two Points- Gonzo!
April 22, 2009 at 11:30 am
But, but – we’re supposed to engage in debate – even if it means that we spend days chasing the moving goalposts, running in circles and having our substantive responses ignored while the whole circle is run again and again.
Fuck the dipshits, sometimes – often, the proper response is ridicule.
April 22, 2009 at 12:38 pm
CPP, haven’t you gotten the memo. Every human interaction that includes disagreement is a formal debate. You must have a well reasoned argument, preferably in bullet points, and a counter argument that hits every one of your opponent’s bullet points. And you’re not allowed to give up on this format no matter how asinine and dishonest the other person’s argument. Most importantly, you can’t simply call them stupid or dishonest, even if anyone with a marginally functional brain can see it, because then you are breaking the rules of debate and to the high-school debate champion there is not greater insult.
April 22, 2009 at 12:42 pm
[...] Lagniappe: Appeal to Ridicule and Ad Hominem [...]
April 22, 2009 at 7:21 pm
yeah, well, people hate being told that they’re wrong. it’s a good thing i’m never wrong
April 22, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Never before has the appropriate use of “dumbfuck” in netiquette been dissected with such precision.
April 23, 2009 at 11:32 am
Funny. I had to explain this just today.
April 23, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Loves it.
May I suggest at some point a rant about the overuse of “impact” when the intended meaning is “affect”? Cause I fucking hate that, and it is fucking ubiquitous.
April 25, 2009 at 4:32 pm
“Dude, you know I love you, but it really hurts a substantial number of people to hear the word “retarded” used as a generic insult. Please don’t do that here. Insult is, of course, fantastic, but insults based on slurs of marginalized or oppressed groups of people is not.”
Couldn’t an argument be made that “retarded” fell out of medical use decades ago, and is in the category of retired medical descriptions that are now common insults like idiot and moron? On the other hand…
I have objected here to all forms of saying someone is less intelligent as an insult, but have been shouted down by people saying they are not talking about the person’s actual intelligence -just their stupid beliefs, or something like that. But whatever the excuse “stupid” people have indeed been marginalized and oppressed.
What’s wrong with calling someone an asshole or telling them they’re full of shit, or something similar but more creative? That covers either possibility (that they are stupid or are just misguided) without being specific and insulting a marginalized group.
Furthermore, many marginalized groups are poor and have poor nutrition and low quality education, so they in fact really are as a result often less “intelligent” but through no fault of their own.
June 22, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I bow before your incredible frakking prowess with the English language. You are frakking awesome beyond frakking belief. And I feel ever so much better for sharing that. Would have been even better if every frakking had been fucking.
Gonna put a little of this post over at Countering.