The Lefty at work who occasionally pops out of his hole to try to "debate" me started another about Social Security reform the other day.
In his reply to my reply he, of course, called my arguments a "straw man" an accused me of "ad hominem" attacks. All of my points were rock-solid and I insulted no one. But that didn''t matter.
If you ever "debate" liberals, you will constantly have them calling your points "straw men" and your replies "ad hominem" attacks. They all do it. It must be something they teach in Leftism 101.
Those two tactics serve two purposes for these left-wing children: A) they think that it makes them sound intelligent and, B) it saves them from having to respond to your facts, because they can't.
When they call your arguments a "straw man", they're trying to say that your points are based on false information and, therefore, not worth responding to.
When they accuse you of "ad hominem" attacks, it's their way of trying to say that you're just insulting people and not actually debating. You don't even have to insult anyone or anything for them to use this one on you. With Clinton-like semantic-twisting, they'll find an insult in there somewhere.
I really don't think that most of them even know what these two phrases mean. Like children repeating profanities, they just think that it makes them sound cool or intelligent even though they don't have the slightest idea what they mean.
Either way, it's just an immature way to dismiss your argument out-of-hand because they can't debate you on the facts. I told Lefty this the other day and I haven't heard from him since.
Imagine that.
- The Exile
"Straw man" has nothing to do with one's points being false. Perhaps a "useless liberal arts education" would do you a bit of good?
ReplyDeleteSpend 4 years in the politically correct college gulag to find what your philosophical definition of a "straw man" is? I think not.
ReplyDeleteYou can't have your cake and eat it too. Unless you're Chloe.
"You can't have your cake and eat it too. Unless you're Chloe."
ReplyDeleteHa ha.
See, I have a sense of humor.
He didn't get the joke.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't get a lot of stuff. He misses every point that I make and turns my posts into whatever right-wing stereotype that he wants.
ReplyDeleteEveryone else seems to get the point, so it can't be my (admittedly) sometimes crude prose.
Oh well. What more can ya expect from a MoveOn.org believer? I'm sure that he thinks Michael Moore makes real documentaries too.