Ad Hominem

Everyone in this world will use fallacies as a mean to make people agree with them, at any point of their life. I am not an exception to this too. However, there was this one person I know whom I would rather call as the "King Of Fallacies" because you can hardly see a logical argument from him. He only tries to manipulate the opponent emotionally so as to win the argument. His main issue is that he wants to win every argument and prove that he is always right, but he does not has the confidence to argue in the right way by providing logical reasonings. He would rather manipulate the opponent and attack them psychologically. If I am to list out all of his fallacies, believe me, the list will go on and on without an end.

Therefore, I would like to stress more on his favourite fallacy, which is also his area of expertise - AD HOMINEM:

1. There was once when I was having a real bad time in my studies and was struggling hard to fix the situation. He was pursuing his masters degree at that time. I am good at factual subjects that requires memorizations and extensive writings. His papers were mostly of this type. He was once complaining to me that it is hard for him to cope with such subjects, since he is not used to memorizing as well as writing a lot. I understood his situation, so I suggested him a few methods that he can use in order to do better in such papers.

He immediately said, "Look who is talking? You are having a hard time in studies too. You cannot even fix your problem, but you are trying to advise me for mine? Why should I listen to you in the first place? Who are you? What qualification do you have to advise me? Just mind your own business."

BCT - Ad Hominem Tu Quo Que.

He condemned me for the sincere advice that I gave him out of my concern for him. He justified his argument by saying that I am not doing well in my studies too. As a critical thinker, he should have evaluated the content of my argument rather than attacking me for the same mistake.

2. There was once when a conflict of interest rose between this person and my father. I did not want to be biased in my judgement, therefore I listened to both the parties and tried to understand their situations. Then, after talking it through with a few of my friends, I finally concluded that both these parties are being right in their own perception, but it is just that there is no common ground for them to agree with each other.The least that I could try then was to make each party understand the stand of the other. My father, with all those years of experience being a teacher, accepted my arguments openly and was willing to give a second chance to this person. This person, however, was not really willing to compromise.

He said, "I already expected you to defend him. I was waiting for you to say this. I knew you would. It is because he is your father. So, for sure you will not agree that he is actually wrong. No matter how wrong he is, he is still your father. So I am sure you are not going to give him up."

BCT - Ad Hominem Circumstantial

He blamed me that I am actually defending my father, just because he is my father. He never tried to understand the underlying contents in my argument. I could think of nothing then, than to drop the idea to negotiate with him about that issue.

3. On another fine day, this very same person was sharing his problem with me. He complained that his fellow groupmates are treating him unfairly. He is often being discriminated and taken for granted. Therefore, he ended up being overloaded with assigment works while the rest were just giving orders on what to do. I felt so bad for him that, again, I advised him to stand up for his rights. I asked him to bravely express his mind to his fellow groupmates so that they would understand his stand. He listened to all of my advices and in the end he started his routine work, which is to attack me back so as to hide his weaknesses.

He said, "Why should I listen to you? You are a poor student, an unfair person. You cannot cope well in your studies. You also did not support me in the conflict between your father and me. Now you are trying to advise me for my problem? You are not smart enough to suggest solutions for me."

BCT - Ad Hominem Abusive

Eventhough when I know that he never listen to advices or suggestions, I still could not keep silent when he shared his problems. That was because I cared for him. However, he cannot really stop being prejudice towards me and judging me personally, rather than looking into the content of my advice.

Whatever it is, I am just glad that this person is no more in my life and that I do not have to waste my time arguing with a fallacious person who does not argue based on logical reasonings.