Re: AHS Robin/On the Term "Personal Attack"
- To: hosta-open@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: AHS Robin/On the Term "Personal Attack"
- From: C*@aol.com
- Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 18:11:07 EDT
In a message dated 9/9/1999 10:02:23 AM Central Daylight Time,
jmahosta@WinterberryFarms.com writes:
<< No matter where this debate about the Society's policies goes, it does not
need personal attacks, either in the open or in private. I learned from long
years and many debates in science that as soon as the debate gets personal
the subject is lost. >>
Dear Jim,
Thank you very much for your well-reasoned, articulate and thoughtful post,
an exerpt of which I post above.
I suppose that everyone, but me, knows what a "personal attack" is or means.
I have heard very good friends engaged in conversation where one says to the
other, "I think your idea is stupid (or dumb, etc.). Is such a "personal
attack?"
Does the term connote an "attack" on the person rather than the (an) idea?
Such as, "I think Mrs. X. is a bag of wind." ?
The term "personal attack" suggests there is such a thing as an "impersonal"
attack. E.g. , "I think the AHS is an awful organization." Should that be
verboten--or is that a personal attack?
I am not trying to be facetious. I just don't know what the term "personal
attack" encompasses. I should like to see it removed from our discusions.
Once again, Thank you for your post,
Clyde Crockett
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