Personal attacks are not ad hominem arguments. Ad hominem arguments are a logical fallacy. To illustrate:
John believes X. X is wholly false. Anyone who believes it is an asshole. John is an asshole. This is a personal attack but it is NOT an ad hominem argument. John is an asshole. John believes X. Therefore X is false. That is an ad hominem argument. And it is fallacious. Anyone who uses such an argument is a stupid asshole. John supports X. John profits from X. Therefore X is false. That is a mixture. It is a false argument re X but a reasonable suggestion for exploring X further. Assholes like to use fancy Latin terms that they don't understand the meaning of. Leigh's arguments are not worth attacking. Let them lie and stink. Carrol
