Wednesday, March 9, 2011 6:33:11 PM
Your not being clear though...
"It's a way of dismissing legitimate criticism of mainstream feminism by..."
"Obviously it`s true that most feminists are not extremists."
If most feminists are not extremists, as we have agreed, then really the "mainstream" feminism is not extreme. It`s just those couple of over sensationalized people who spew their crap all over the internet that give the impression that it is.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 6:32:38 PM
Your not being clear though...
"It's a way of dismissing legitimate criticism of mainstream feminism by..."
"Obviously it`s true that most feminists are not extremists."
If most feminists are not extremists, as we have agreed, then really the "mainstream" feminism is not extreme. It`s just those couple of over sensationalized people who spew their crap all over the internet that give the impression that it is.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 4:53:42 PM
@Angilion Well... maybe the reason it is so "usual" for people say that is because it's true, not all feminists are extremists. Just like not all Christians are Mormons.
Obviously it`s true that most feminists are not extremists. The point is that it`s not a relevant truth. As I wrote before:
[quote]It`s a very effective way to dismiss points you know you can`t argue against, by pretending they only apply to a hugely unrepresentative subgroup.
It`s also a lie.
People haven`t been talking about the extreme end of feminism. They`ve been talking about the mainstream.[/quote]
It`s a way of dismissing legitimate criticism of mainstream feminism by falsely claiming that the person making it is a bigot irrationally considering only the extremists and smearing the mainstreamers with the extremism.
In short, it`s ad hominem because they know that the actual criticism is true - that`s why they can`t counter it.