Martin lambert

Any attack based on hypocricy is ipso facto an ad hominem tu quoque. In other words, “You say one thing but do the opposite.”

No…this falacy applies to debate on a particular topic (which is not under debate here). It does not apply when considering the weight of someone’s opinion in a decision making process, as a leader or as a rep…[Read more]

Davis wrote:It is true that there are a portion of self-hating homosexuals who believe they don’t deserve the rights that everyone else does. The only thing is…the record of outed politicians who admit that they are gay and then move on to champion gay rights is pretty high. Randy Boehning is but the most recent example.

The end justifies the mea…[Read more]

Just read Davis’s reply to this, and he brought up some scenarios, completely different from outing a hypocritical bible thumper (the situation I had in mind when I wrote the above), where outing is not only appropriate but downright necessary (e.g., exposing an enemy agent of influence in your ranks).

And so…outing someone who works against y…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:In other words, simply because someone acts in a way inconsistent with their stated beliefs, it doesn’t follow that those beliefs are wrong.

Your paraphrasing is off target. Who is claiming discrimination against LGBT people is wrong simply because the discriminator is hypocritical? I hold that discrimination against LGBT people is h…[Read more]

@Unseen

It is true that there are a portion of self-hating homosexuals who believe they don’t deserve the rights that everyone else does. The only thing is…the record of outed politicians who admit that they are gay and then move on to champion gay rights is pretty high. Randy Boehning is but the most recent example.

An ad hominem attack only…[Read more]

We may dislike hypocrisy, but let’s be clear on the fact that when we do so, we are arguing ad hominem (against the person, or character of the person). It says nothing about the truth of their claims or beliefs.

Thinking it does is another sort of ad hominem argument, argumentum ad hominem tu quoque. An example of this would be where the…[Read more]

I believe we are in a kind of grey area, where either side’s position is correct dependent on the circumstances. I’m quite sure we can both create scenarios to support the two positions.

Absolutely.

We can also examine real world examples. Take Ted Haggard, once arguably the most powerful evangelical leader in the United States. Haggard was piv…[Read more]

Strega wrote:I think ‘outing’ is discrediting a person, not his or her opinions and actions. So you call out a hypocrite. You out a guy for having homosexual phone sex whilst voting against LGBT protections. How is that helping the cause?

It’s not a persuasive argument in favor of your position. It does, however, shut up one member of your opp…[Read more]

I believe we are in a kind of grey area, where either side’s position is correct dependent on the circumstances. I’m quite sure we can both create scenarios to support the two positions.

In this situation, I’d usually fall back on the golden rule, do no harm etc…

if this had been a black and white clear cut matter, you would not have raised it in a moral debate now would you?

Hence phrases like “I’m not so sure” or “that’s one way of looking at it”.

I believe there is a moral blind spot in us when we ridicule others, because I think it feeds into a smug sense of superiority by the ridiculer that is…

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if this had been a black and white clear cut matter, you would not have raised it in a moral debate now would you? 🙂

I believe there is a moral blind spot in us when we ridicule others, because I think it feeds into a smug sense of superiority by the ridiculer that is primitive and not particularly socially helpful.

Outing someone is an act…[Read more]

@Strega ,

Calling out a homosexual intent on limiting the rights of others (as well as himself) to keep his seat in a legislature…is not ad hominem. It’s revealing that the person…quite likely…doesn’t even agree with the argument he is making. How is that ad hominem? It would be ad hominem if we said “hey…that politician was a closeted…[Read more]