Rock, Paper, Scissors... Dynamite!

-Ad hominem, Ad naseum-

"There's something intrisincally inferior to the stew he spews."
-pot calling the kettle black

I recall a debate in Sunday School sometime ago about Cain and Abel. The question arose: was Cain's statement "am I my brother's keeper?" an ad hominem attack? It seemed a pithy discussion at the time. One person replied: "Do we really have to analize the rhetorical devices used by the first murderer? Can't we call a spade a spade?" Someone then replied: "But now your statement is ad hominem." Clearly, there were a few lawyers in the class. Most of us sat through the debate determined to look up the phrase when we got home.

Ad hominem, is a Latin phrase that literally means "argument to the man." Essentially, when someone employs an ad hominem argument or rebuttal they criticize the origin of the opposition rather than what the opposition says. For example:

There is something objectionable about person X. Therefore what person X says is false.


Did you ever play rock, papers, and scissors with a sibling, anticipating a dominating set of games only to find yourself behind in the count. Invariably, one of the siblings will get bored with the limitations and add in a forth element in the shape of one finger, dynamite. Paper may beat rock, rock may crush scissors, but dynamite can take out anything.

There are times, however, when pundits invoke "ad hominem" as a blanket defense, dismissing something as scurilous in order to avoid real rebattal. This is a straw man defense, one that has deep historical precedent.

I think we can look back on the debate of the last few days and find some very off-tone ad hominem arguments (I've documented some here). But if we can hold our breath until the confirmation hearings I think it will do us all some good.

Bottom line: I do not think the White House will withdraw her nomination, nor do I think she will step aside. As much as I like to think of the blogosphere as the center of the universe look at the front page of MSNBC or CNN or even FoxNews… Miers is mentioned only once as the last article on Fox News. While we have our precedents of fermenting debate leading to public news (see Dan Rather) I'm just not sure we're going to see the same thing… especially if the Left keeps quiet.

In short, this is a lively and very revealing debate… but let's stick to rock, paper and scissors. Enough of the single finger dynamite sticks already!