Re: Ad Hominem and Thumbs down.

Laconic2 wrote:

> In a recent post, I failed to mark the purpose of my use of the word
> "drivel" as ironic. As a consequence, some readers took my remarks
> concerning Pascal as seriously intended, rather than as serving as an
> illustrative counterexample to the point I was trying to make.
>
> Gene called my remarks "ad hom", which they were.
>
> That got me to thinking. What's the connection between the "thumbs down"
> signal and "ad hominem" attacks.
>
> Well, if I trace them both back to ancient Rome, I think there's a
> connection. The thumbs down signal was used by the crowds in the coliseum
> to indicate to a victorious gladiator that he should kill the vanquished
> gladiator. It doesn't get any more "ad hominem" than that.
>
> And I think the "thumbs down" signal still carries the ad hominem
> overtone, regardless of whether it is applied to a person, or to that
> person's work.
> It's like calling someone's writing "drivel". That's such an extreme
> characterization of the person's work that it amounts to an ad hominem
> attack on the person who issued it.
>
> Surely we can point out what's wrong with someone else's work without
> descending to that level.

This ng is the height of civil manners compared to most, I'd say we're doing OK.

-- 
Kenneth Downs
Use first initial plus last name at last name plus literal "fam.net" to
email me