Challenging consensus triggers dismissal of the arguer rather than the argument

Evidence

The Spinoza Agents (the Cold Rationalist equivalent of Gibson’s Turing Cops, who, unlike the Turing Police, are dedicated not to the curbing of AI but to its acceleration) report that a new and dangerously virulent form of artificial stupidity is spreading unchecked throughout k-space. This is a nasty combination of the ad hominem and straw man irrationalist mind viruses, provisionally codenamed “straw ad hominem”. This oedipalising idiocy proceeds thus: given that this argument challenges commonsense and what is consensually accepted, the person who presented it must be [insert allegedly derogatory remark about mental health/marital status/ upbringing here], therefore anything they say is to be dismissed. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2389

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the author’s throughout-book theme of the Big Other and ideological self-policing; also Gibson’s Turing Police from Neuromancer. — connects to: An ad hominem attack shifts the focus from the argument to the arguer’s character — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1049; Pundit dismissal of student protestors as future politicians trivializes present action — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1525; Outrageous trial-balloon positions let the right shift debate ground without debating facts — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1691 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• An ad hominem attack shifts the focus from the argument to the arguer’s character #expands (0.90) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1049