Quiet Frontier

When Arguments Turn Personal: The Ad Hominem Trap

Video (03:30): Most arguments don’t fall apart because of bad ideas. They fall apart because they turn personal. In this video, we look at the ad hominem fallacy; what it is, why it happens, and how it replaces real discussion with personal attack.

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Transcript

00:00:00 I’ve been going over the numbers for the community center again.

00:00:14 If we keep spending at this rate, we’re going to run into a huge deficit over the next

00:00:19 couple of years.

00:00:20 We might have to start rethinking how we’re going to go about funding this thing.

00:00:26 Oh, here we go.

00:00:27 You and your spread sheets again.

00:00:29 Didn’t you mess up the budget the last time you tried to fix something like this?

00:00:34 That’s not really the point.

00:00:36 The numbers are what they are.

00:00:39 We’re spending more than we’re bringing in.

00:00:41 Yeah, but you’re the one saying it.

00:00:43 I don’t think you’re exactly the right guy to be lecturing anyone about finances.

00:00:49 It’s not about me.

00:00:51 It’s about whether the plan’s actually going to work.

00:00:58 Did you catch that?

00:01:01 Harry presented a specific evidence-based argument.

00:01:05 The budget proposal is mathematically impossible.

00:01:09 But what did Larry do?

00:01:11 Did he point out an error in the math?

00:01:14 Did he propose a different way of balancing the budget?

00:01:18 No.

00:01:19 He attacked Harry’s character.

00:01:23 That hominem is Latin for to the person.

00:01:27 It occurs when someone avoids the substance of an argument by attacking the character

00:01:34 or the motives or the tactics or the traits of the person making the argument.

00:01:42 In this case, Larry used character attack.

00:01:47 He attacked the motives and he discredited the source of the information rather than focusing

00:01:55 on the information itself.

00:01:57 You can see how it shifted the conversation.

00:02:00 It went from talking about budgets to talking about Harry’s personality.

00:02:07 It’s a distraction tactic and it’s used to derail logic and win an argument without

00:02:13 ever having to prove the opponent wrong.

00:02:17 So the next time you’re in the middle of a debate, whether it’s social media or the dinner

00:02:22 table doesn’t really matter.

00:02:25 Just ask yourself, is this person addressing the claim that I’m making?

00:02:29 Are they just attacking me or some other speaker who’s talking about the topic?

00:02:36 If the focus shifts from what’s being said to who is saying it, you’ve likely spotted

00:02:45 the ad hominem fallacy.

00:02:48 Don’t let the distraction win.

00:02:50 Stay focused on the facts.

00:02:54 Thanks very much for taking some time to check out this short little video here.

00:02:59 If you enjoy content like this and if you find it useful, there’s a lot more that you

00:03:04 can find at quietfrontier.com.

00:03:07 That’s where I post a lot of writing about mind, meaning, society, culture.

00:03:13 So I’d really appreciate it if it took some time to check it out.

00:03:17 Thanks again for watching.

00:03:19 Take care.