The surest sign that you don’t have a good argument is when you simply name-call your opponent instead of engaging in the argument.
Some people who respond to my letters do try and engage my arguments and make counter-arguments. I often find them wanting, but at least they’re on the right track.
But many who respond, especially in the literary garbage pile that is the comments section, simply dismiss my arguments by calling me names, or claiming that my arguments come from Fox News or the president and must therefore, prima facie, by dismissed.
That is not only intellectually lazy and pathetic, but really does my detractors more harm than good.
Now, I admit that as a conflicted supporter of Trump, I may not be exactly on solid ground, since he is the commander-in-chief of trolls and regularly employs name-calling to attack his enemies. In general, I abhor such behavior by politicians, especially the president.
If you recall, George W. Bush was extremely reticent to even politely criticize his rivals while in office. He was and is a polite and gracious man, though that didn’t stop Democrats from calling him everything but a child of God.
And that gets me to my point about Trump. Democrats, liberals and leftists: Trump is what you get when YOU coarsen the national dialogue with your constant stream of personal attacks, straw-men arguments, and righteous denunciations of your opponents.
Gone is the day when we assumed each others’ best motives and could agree to disagree. As the Democrats have moved further left, their willingness to acknowledge the value and worth of their political opponents has diminished to the point where almost all they do is name-call, exaggerate, and lie.
And so our side can’t put up a Mitt Romney or Jeb Bush or some other polite, distinguished person to represent us. Such people get eviscerated by the anger machine of the left.
So, instead you get a Trump.
So next time to want to lay in to me or him and select a choice grouping of tasty epithets and swear words, just remember: the more you do so, the more you empower the Trumps of this world.
You are the cause of your own downfall, in this important respect.
So how about engaging the arguments, talking about the facts, and assuming —if only for show’s sake — that your ideological opponent might just be a decent human being like yourself?
Trey Hoffman
Peachtree City, Ga.
You guys might have the tinfoil wrapped a little too tight.
Pretzel Logic – Poor Trey! He decries illogical arguments and ad hominem attacks while delivering a missive replete with illogical arguments and ad hominem attacks.
Let’s follow the il-logic. To wit, without any personal agency, Trey is compelled to champion a party led by “the commander-in-chief of trolls” who “regularly employs name-calling to attack his enemies.” And he states clearly, “In general, I abhor such behavior by politicians, especially the president.”
However, this allegiance to the orange god cannot be laid at Trey’s feet. Because persons not persuaded by his philosophy “coarsened the national dialogue,” it is they who have imposed Donald Trump upon the innocent world. Trey has no choice at the ballot box but to vote for the most temperamentally unfit person ever to be president. Essentially his logic is: Since they won’t let me worship Jehovah, I’ll bow down to Baal.
And then we learn that Progressive leaders and pundits unilaterally lack comity. Barak Obama, Rachel Maddow, and their ilk have so defiled political discourse that Trey is compelled to rebel along with his mistreated sojourners who would never hurt a fly.
I was just saying the other day how sweet and gracious the right wing politicians and pundits conduct themselves. Why, it was a travesty that Rush Limbaugh didn’t get the role of Fred Rogers in the recent film. With Rush’s temperament and universal affirmations of others, he would have been a natural. Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Bill O’Reilly so ably look critically at every side of an argument and respect dissenting opinions from all quarters. The always inclusive Mitch McConnell cherishes ideas from both sides of the aisle, but above all, he is the champion of fair play. Newt Gingrich welcomes everyone with cordiality and open arms to the wide, tolerant conservative tent. Alex Jones painstakingly researches every issue thoroughly before laying out his conspiracies. David Duke and his “fine people” champion racial equality. Breitbart, Sarah Palin, Kelly Ann Conaway…the list of ambassadors for tolerance, peace, love, and truth is endless. Of course, none of these broadminded conservatives can be implicated in introducing the Trump phenomenon. It had to be Nancy Pelosi.
Trey fails to realize that many respected conservative politicians and pundits have not traded in their birthright for a bowl of soup. David Brooks, George Will, Ross Douthat, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and many others have refused to bow a knee to Baal.
Trey may be a decent human being, but that hasn’t prevented him from flooding this newspaper with simplistically transparent restatements of the fodder fed to conservatives through their partisan news outlets. Anyone blind to the “personal attacks, straw-men arguments, and righteous denunciations of your opponents” from both ends of the political spectrum is either willfully deluded or a rank simpleton. If he would present a fact-based, insightful argument, perhaps he would gain a serious reply. But no logic in the universe can credibly absolve the Trey Hoffman’s of the world for imposing Donald Trump upon us. To project the blame elsewhere is but another “alternative fact.”
You really can’t make this stuff up. Truth is always stranger than fiction!
Man that was an eloquent dismantlement of Mr. Hoffman’s whole argument and honestly whole existence. He should have been embarrassed to post such a transparently nonsensical argument.
I’m not at all surprised that ol’ Trey posted that drivel. It’s right on par with all of the other garbage he posts. He’s always blaming the world’s ills on someone else.