Matthews

Abeni Matthews

Prof Leslie Wolcott

ENC3315

9 October 2015

The Florida Fallacies – Ad Hominem

The ad hominem logical fallacy is described as one that does not attack the

opponent or other side for their claims, but rather for reasons that are irrelevant to the

argument. The fallacy manifests itself when one attacks the person themselves and not

their argument. An example illustrating this could consist of two classmates discussing

their views on minimum wage in America. If one of them states that the minimum wage

should stay the same, the other person could make an ad hominem attack by calling them

a rich pretentious snob instead of refuting that person’s claim.

Looking at the example from the Palm Beach Post, the argument takes place at a

Democrats’ fundraising dinner at the Marriott Hotel. Representative Ted Deutch gives a

speech urging the Democrats to get the Republican presidential candidates to answer the

real questions about important issues going on in America; such as Jeb Bush with his

plan to give millionaires another tax cut, Marco Rubio with his opinion on oil companies

writing our energy policy, and Ted Cruz with his desire to repeal Obamacare (Bennett).

He concludes his speech with an ad hominem attack on Donald Trump related to his hair.

This is an ad hominem fallacy due to the fact that Deutch was not attacking Trump’s

views on current issues, but Trump himself and his physical appearance.

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Works Cited

Bennett, George. "The Making of a Donald Trump Hair Joke | Post On Politics." Post On

Politics. The Palm Beach Post, 5 Oct. 2015. Web. 9 Oct. 2015.

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