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Personhood and Dehumanization
What dimension of a person do you think would be the most offensive to insult? I’m sure that you do not have to think long to come up with a decent list of things: sex, race, economic status, disability, appearance. Some of you might even say that it depends on the person, their personal sensitivities and/or their history of pain.
While I might agree with all of this, I want to make the case that it is something else entirely. Enter: the ad hominem abusive argument. Its very nature is dehumanizing because it focuses in on attacking the person and does not even address the argument itself. From a psychological standpoint, it is the insult behind the insult that really breaks us. Think about it for a minute. What was it about the insult to your sex, race, or disability that really got to you?
Disclaimer
The ideas and thoughts expressed in these posts do not reflect the beliefs of any organization or individual, except my own. Ironically enough, however, these posts may not even reflect how I currently think or feel. I have grown and changed over the years - and rather than delete or edit old content I have decided to leave my posts as I originally wrote them to preserve their authenticity.