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> At least you get to feel good about your purity when you're posting comments on HN, secure in the knowledge that you don't have a teenager or a parent that mi

> At least you get to feel good about your purity when you're posting comments on HN, secure in the knowledge that you don't have a teenager or a parent that might die as a result. What's this ad hominem crap doing here? I don't know anything about the poster you're replying to, but I think I'm safe in assuming that they don't want your teenager or parent to die either. It's acceptable--essential, even--to be concerned about more than one thing at a time, even during a pandemic.

jb775 6y ago
He's using pedophrasty in his argument in desperation by adding unnecessary elements that distract from the underlying debate and illicit emotions you can't really argue against without being the bad guy. Once you see this approach used, it's safe to assume that person's an idiot (at least on the underlying discussion topic). Pedophrasty Definition: Argument involving children to prop up a rationalization and make the opponent look like an asshole, as people are defenseless and suspend all skepticism in front of suffering children: nobody has the heart to question the authenticity or source of the reporting.
- krapp 6y ago
  > as people are defenseless and suspend all skepticism in front of suffering children: nobody has the heart to question the authenticity or source of the reporting. But that's not actually true. It's nearly impossible to express concern for children in any context on the internet without being mocked and dismissed for having invoked a "won't someone think of the children" ad hominem. It's strange how deeply that particular meme has dug into the psyche of internet culture, and has become almost an unwritten rule.
  - jb775 6y ago
    In your example, the people saying "won't someone think of the children" are the culprits of pedophrasty. Once you conceive the concept, you see it all over the place. See here for a more in depth explanation: https://medium.com/incerto/pedophrasty-bigoteering-and-other-modern-scams-c84bd70a29e8 https://medium.com/incerto/pedophrasty-bigoteering-and-other...

jb775 6y ago

He's using pedophrasty in his argument in desperation by adding unnecessary elements that distract from the underlying debate and illicit emotions you can't really argue against without being the bad guy. Once you see this approach used, it's safe to assume that person's an idiot (at least on the underlying discussion topic). Pedophrasty Definition: Argument involving children to prop up a rationalization and make the opponent look like an asshole, as people are defenseless and suspend all skepticism in front of suffering children: nobody has the heart to question the authenticity or source of the reporting.

krapp 6y ago
> as people are defenseless and suspend all skepticism in front of suffering children: nobody has the heart to question the authenticity or source of the reporting. But that's not actually true. It's nearly impossible to express concern for children in any context on the internet without being mocked and dismissed for having invoked a "won't someone think of the children" ad hominem. It's strange how deeply that particular meme has dug into the psyche of internet culture, and has become almost an unwritten rule.
- jb775 6y ago
  In your example, the people saying "won't someone think of the children" are the culprits of pedophrasty. Once you conceive the concept, you see it all over the place. See here for a more in depth explanation: https://medium.com/incerto/pedophrasty-bigoteering-and-other-modern-scams-c84bd70a29e8 https://medium.com/incerto/pedophrasty-bigoteering-and-other...