Why They Attack You

Disclaimer: Everyone should know that if you leave a public review or comment, that review or comment is subject to ending up as material in my blog or work. Private communications NEVER result in this. Just an FYI before proceeding 😊

Let’s begin.

I recently got a negative review on my book from a user named ancientreader. I won’t’ lie, it hurt at first, but after the sting wore off, I found it fascinating. It’s fascinating because he didn’t attack my work. He attacked me. He used an ad hominem argument. Ad hominem means "to the person" in Latin. It is a strategy whereby you attack the character of the person trying to make a point. Professional debaters avoid ad hominem attacks because they are usually considered fallacies; by that, I mean they are not productive to the debate.

Ancientreaders's review is the perfect example of such an argument:
“What do we need to know about an author who writes a chapter entitled Black Lizards Matter? Oh yes, she’s Christian and by that I don’t’ think she means a Quaker. Author goes straight to DNR.”

The word “Christian” is written like a cuss word. He is upset that I exist, follow Christ, and am willing to satirize leftist narratives. He may not have liked the story, but he didn’t’ criticize it. He criticized me.

For those of you who haven’t read my book, Black Lizards Matter is a satirical story about the BLM movement. It exposes their communist philosophy with the aid of adorable lizards.

BLM have admitted they are communist repeatedly. They have said their goal is to abolish the nuclear family, something Karl Marx advocated for so the state could indoctrinate children. Also, the fruits of BLM are in line with communism. Like the BLM movement, communism lures struggling and sometimes angry people into a system that promises equality, but never delivers, and in many cases leaves them worse than they were before.

Through a little adventure, the lizards in my story discover how poisonous communism can be, especially when it's disguised by another name. Communism's body count is in the hundreds of millions; a quick internet search confirms this. This is truth. This is known, and this is why ancientreader didn’t attack the story or it’s message.

It’s always easy to go for the softer target. The truth will defend itself, but I am a human being, wretched and flawed. There are thousands of things you could attack me for, and I expect more attacks to follow. When you write the kind of things I do, this is expected. But even if you’re not a writer, you can still be a victim of ad hominem attacks.

That’s why I wanted to let you know about them, dear reader, so the next time someone insults you, take a deep breath, and then take their argument apart. Use your mind to dissect their disgust. Think: “could this be an ad hominem argument? “ If so, celebrate! They couldn’t attack your message, so they attacked you! They are basically calling you right!

Also consider scripture when facing the ad hominem:
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.” John 15:21

So If you’re out there, ancientreader, thank you again for the review, the blog material, and the confirmation from God that I am right. I wish good things for you, including the ability to formulate better critiques.

For the rest of you, thanks for reading. Stay strong and Infidel on!