The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 10
Launching Ad Hominem Attacks and Stoking Racial Tensions
9/23/16
In Don’t You Believe It! Poking Holes in Faulty Logic ([Moody Press, 1982], 60), Professor Arlie J. Hoover exposes the weaknesses of bad arguments. One such argument is an ad hominem attack—calling one’s opponent names, for example, and ignoring the substance of the debate altogether. Dr. Hoover states, “You are guilty of this error when you make an attack on a man’s character that is irrelevant to the thing you really wish to destroy.” Progressives, most of whom are Democrats, use ad hominem attacks against conservatives all the time. They do this because can’t win on the issues themselves. Black conservatives are true heroes in the marketplace of political ideas because liberals love to target them and hit them with verbal assaults. This post examines this liberal strategy and commends African American conservatives for their stands. It also emphasizes, one more time, the importance of having an accurate understanding of history and of passing on that understanding to the next generation.
Access “The Importance of Getting History Right” home page here.
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