Oh no, this isn't the "virtue signaling" argument again, is it? I like to call this the Joker Argument: "Underneath you're no different than me, Batman!". It'

Oh no, this isn't the "virtue signaling" argument again, is it? I like to call this the Joker Argument: "Underneath you're no different than me, Batman!". It's a great argument because you can use it in any situation against any opponent, because it is contentless. And the effect is to attack your opponent's character and claim that they don't really mean what they are saying, which justifies your own selfish motivations while trying to paint the other person as a hypocrite. But it's just another ad hominem attack. And it's obviously false too: you can't know what another person's motivations are, and to say that you do is putting words in someone else's mouth. In that sense it's a form of straw man attack too as you are setting up an imaginary version of the other person to knock down. If you are using an argument like this, it's a clear sign that you don't have any real argument left to make. It's an act of desperation. Let's not do this, folks.