Warned: This post contains what some consider offensive language.
Me calling the anticommentarian arguments, by and large, pretentious bullshit is not Ad Hominem. Me calling MG Siegler, Matt Gemmell, and Gruber pretentious idiots, vapid hipsters, or <pick your pejorative, it really doesn’t matter> is not Ad Hominem. Calling people you disagree with names is not “Ad Hominem”. It is not nice, and is probably being an Asshole, but it’s not Ad Hominem. For it to be Ad Hominem, I’d have to say something like “MG Siegler is a hipster, therefore, he’s wrong”. THAT is Ad Hominem. Stop using that fucking concept to cover people being foulmouthed rantmavens.
[and later -Ed.]
If I could ban one thing from human discourse, it would be the false humilty we require of people when it comes to opinions. “In my humble opinion”. Oh bullshit. If you’re offering an opinion, it’s not humble. You’re taking a fucking stand on an issue. Could be a minor issue, could be a major issue, but an opinion is inherently not humble. If you want to have a humble opinion, shut the fuck up and stop blathering about it. People can be humble. Opinions cannot be humble. Who the fuck cares about an opinion if the person giving it is being a vacillating wussy about it?
[I aspire to be a foulmouthed rant maven. I may never get there, but a man can dream. (oh hush, I know.) About the second paragraph I quoted… I can have a opinion without belief that it is highly important to anyone but me. You might be able to argue about the precision of the phrase “humble opinion,” but that doesn’t make me a vacillating wussy. Other things might, but I doubt it.]
Source: bynkii.com
turnings :: daniel berlinger 