When Would YOU Take A Step Back?
As many of you already know, I joined Steemit in July 2016 and I have obviously seen a lot of things during that time. I have seen amazing and wonderful things, but I have also seen scams, personal attacks and hate-speech more than a handful of times.
I saw one person harass and attack a fellow Steemian to her breaking-point. All because this one person didn't fully believe the things she said. This person made this a long-term goal. A long-term goal to get this user to suffer as much as possible, every single second on this platform.
I mean, people calling someone a "retard", "twat" or a "douchebag" might not be good, but it's far from damaging. It's obviously an insult, but if it happens once or twice, I'd say it's okay. I wouldn't feel too bad if someone called me a "whore" or whatever, if they did it once or twice. However, if someone would start to comment on every single article I wrote, and continue with the insults, I'd obviously be hurt.
I don't like personal attacks, but I know that they are used in a way to "get under the skin" and, truth to be told, they're often used by people who's not capable of addressing the point that they are trying to make.
Types of ad hominem arguments:
An ad hominem argument (argumentum ad hominem) is an argument that attacks a person or a group directly, instead of addressing the point that they are trying to make.
I won't go into all of these, but some examples are:
Poisoning the well
Poisoning the well is a rhetorical technique where someone presents unrelated negative information about their opponent, with the goal of discrediting everything that their opponent says.
An example of a ‘poisoning the well’ argument is the following:
Alice: I think that we should increase the federal spending on education.
Bob: You’re a fascist, so clearly we shouldn’t listen to what you have to say about education.
Appeal to motive (circumstantial ad hominem)
An appeal to motive (the main type of circumstantial ad hominem) is an argument that dismisses a certain stance, by questioning the motives of the person who supports it.
An example of an ‘appeal to motive’ argument is the following:
Alice: I think that we should increase the federal spending on education.
Bob: You’re only saying that because you want to show support for the president that you voted for.
Appeal to hypocrisy (tu quoque)
An appeal to hypocrisy (also known as tu quoque) is an argument that attempts to discredit a person, by suggesting that their argument is inconsistent with their previous acts.
An example of an ‘appeal to hypocrisy’ argument is the following:
Alice: I think that we should increase the federal spending on education.
Bob: You clearly don’t even care about public education, since you sent your own kids to a private school.
With that being said, I thought I'd ask where you think it's time to draw the line. If a user started to call someone a "fag" or a "faggot", on one or more occasions, would that affect the credibility or the reputation for this person?
- How far can a person go before it affects their reputation or credibility?
- Where do you draw the line?
If someone started to talk shit about you, or your family members...
- Would you say nasty things back and when would it be enough?
Example 1:
User A calls User B a "fag", on top of saying that he hates him.
- Okay or not?
Example 2:
User A calls User B a "fag" and publicly state that he hates "faggots".
- Okay or not?
If you saw this type of behaviour, on Steemit or in real life, what would you do?
Would you stay away from user A or B...?
Would you "team up" with user A and start to insult user B?
Or would you "team up" with user B in an attempt to defend him against these sort of attacks?
Would you unfollow this type of person on Steemit?
Would you ignore them further on?
Would you stop to support them?
I rarely call people stupid things. I don't call people "retard" or a "motherfucker", because those sort of insults are normal today. It's what people call each other on a daily basis...
Whenever I feel the need to make a "counter-attack", I prefer to say things like:
Maybe if you eat all that makeup you will be beautiful on the inside.
You have more dick in your personality than you do in your pants.
Such a shame your mother didn’t swallow you.
These sort of insults are "funny", but effective. It's not a personal attack in the same sense as calling people a "bitch" or a "motherfucker", but they often stings.
When Is It Okay To Insult Others?
And how far can you go, before you think it might affect your credibility or reputation?