I hate this one, too! I’ve had people tell me to disregard everything that Max Blumenthal says because his dad worked for Hillary Clinton. It’s been used against me, personally, because of my own mother.
Previously:
I have a game to play while listening to my YouTube. 😹
These are just three logical fallacies that irritate me:
Ad hominem attacks can take the form of overtly attacking somebody, or more subtly casting doubt on their character or personal attributes as a way to discredit their argument. The result of an ad hom attack can be to undermine someone’s case without actually having to engage with it.
Ad hominem
This fallacy avoids the argument by shifting focus onto something’s or someone’s origins. It’s similar to an ad hominem fallacy in that it leverages existing negative perceptions to make someone’s argument look bad, without actually presenting a case for why the argument itself lacks merit.
Genetic fallacy
Appeals to emotion include appeals to fear, envy, hatred, pity, pride, and more. It’s important to note that sometimes a logically coherent argument may inspire emotion or have an emotional aspect, but the problem and fallacy occurs when emotion is used instead of a logical argument, or to obscure the fact that no compelling rational reason exists for one’s position. Everyone, bar sociopaths, is affected by emotion, and so appeals to emotion are a very common and effective argument tactic, but they’re ultimately flawed, dishonest, and tend to make one’s opponents justifiably emotional.
Appeal to emotion
Graphics via The School of Thought
GDP data for China, the U.S., and the other G7 countries for the year 2023 has now been published. This makes possible an accurate assessment of China’s, the U.S., and major economies performance—both in terms of China’s domestic goals and international comparisons. There are two key reasons this is important.
China’s economy is still far out growing the U.S. – contrary to Western media “fake news”
Texas is in a close race with Florida for the title of “Most Unconstitutional Laws Enacted.” Florida’s legislators will probably end up taking this title because they seem crazier/more productive than their counterparts in Texas.
After Inexplicably Allowing Unconstitutional Book Ban To Stay Alive For Six Months, The Fifth Circuit Finally Shuts It Down
The ghosts of 1968 are haunting Barack Obama, which is tremendously unfair, I say as his coeval, given that our cohort spent the Chicago Democratic Convention sticking baseball cards in our bicycle spokes rather than pelting Mayor Daley’s finest with porcine epithets. But guilt by association is ironclad in these days when American political discourse is controlled by hall monitors and tattletales. Obama’s friendship—acquaintance?—with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn is about to get extended play as the Republicans contrast Obama’s Weatherfriends with their nominee’s stint in the Hanoi Hilton.
When the Left Was Right
We’ve noted many times how the GOP’s obsession with TikTok is stupid, performative, and utterly hollow. For example, the party desperately wants to ban TikTok for “privacy reasons,” yet consistently opposes passing privacy laws, or regulating data brokers that traffic in far more data — at a far greater international scale — than TikTok executives could ever dream of.
Nikki Haley Reinvigorates The GOP’s Breathless TikTok Hysteria… For The Children
Related:
So, we’ve been talking a lot about age verification of late, as governments around the world have all (with the exception of Australia?!?) seemed to settle on that as a solution to “the problem” of the internet (exactly what that problem is they cannot quite identify, but they’re pretty sure there is one). Of course, as we’ve explained time and time again, age verification creates all sorts of problems, including undermining both privacy and speech rights.
You Can’t Wish Away The 1st Amendment To Mandate Age Verification
Related:
The Moral Panic Over Internet Porn Can’t Overrule the First Amendment
A former prostitute dreams of her lost lovers fondling her body, lusting after their donkey-sized body parts and sizable…emissions.
No, that’s not the start of a very lewd pornographic film… it’s straight out of the Bible (Ezekiel 23:20).
Bible Websites Get Reported for Violating New Anti-Porn Laws
We have covered the Protecting Kids On Social Media Act a few times, when it was first introduced back in April, where we highlighted how it was both unconstitutional and the rationale behind it was not supported by any actual evidence, and then again just recently when Senator Chris Murphy (one of the bill’s co-sponsors) wrote a ridiculously confused op-ed for the NY Times, claiming it was necessary because kids these days get too many music recommendations and no longer could discover new music on their own.
The Protecting Kids On Social Media Act Is A Terrible Alternative To KOSA
Related:
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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