Darkforbid
Well-Known Member
Let's break it down, shall we?
Is this ad hominem? Am I attacking the character or person of @usfan? Or am I attacking the position he is maintaining? Stating someone's conclusions are not rational is not "ad hominem."
Note that I didn't actually call @usfan a fool in this, I stated that he isn't able to insert God into anything that does not readily present God without looking like a fool. Again, I am calling his position that "God is in everything" foolish. If he takes that position, then he is a fool. I admit it is exceedingly close. So close that I am willing to admit that yes, I was attacking @usfan's position so strongly here that I was basically attacking him in the process. But the "fool" part is the only thing in the above paragraph that even comes close to being "ad hominem." And let's not forget, you said:
Next part:
I said my words were dumb, and then said that words of the same kind coming out of his mouth about God are just as dumb. Note what is dumb... the words. Did I actually state that @usfan was "dumb?" No. I said he sounded dumb, and what is directly attributed the adjective "dumb" was what was being said about God. in other words, "the position." Again, I admit this is a pretty fine line. But ultimately I am going after what he is saying, not "the man" himself. If I were to state that no one should listen to him because he is dumb, that would be attacking him directly, and not even involving the position he is taking. But I specifically reference his words on God... that is ALL position.
And lastly:
Because of the ambiguity surrounding the "fool" comment, which I can't deny contains some direct applicability to @usfan by myself, I amended the post to include "(specifically before this post)", because that is explicitly what I meant. That he need find my "Ad hominem" words in the specific post he was replying to or before. And note here again, I didn't actually call the man irrational or say that he was in denial, but I will as soon as he comes back and tells me that any part of my earlier posts were "ad hominem," because he doesn't have any proof on his side for that case. And at that point, my statement that he is irrational or "in denial" will indeed be factual. He will be denying that my words were not ad hominem, which they most certainly were not, and he will be irrationally clinging to the idea that they were, when there is no case to be made for it. At which point I WILL THEN HAVE PROOF to back up my accusations, and they can no longer be considered baseless attacks of his person that are not relevant to the argument.
It's all is ad hominem: attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself.
I can't be arsed going through it all: the first part of your post 'You're not following anything close to a "rational" conclusion. That's what I'm doing' .is attributing the inability to reach a rational conclusion to the target