The ad hominem fallacy which is also known as attacking the person is the common initiation for mistakes when reasoning. Sometimes this fallacy is based off of when the qualities of a person making a claim are often confused with the qualities of the claim itself. We generally assume when we see certain negative qualities of someone that all things relating to that person would follow. The idea to consider when this fallacy is present is to remember that shortcomings in a person are not equivalent to all of their traits. An example I found of attacking the person was on a website about the Michael Jackson case. It stated, "Jacko is an obvious case of arrested development. Most rock stars remain frozen in their teen dream of sex and revenge--which isn't that serious, seeing as the entire culture is in a state of adolescent regression. We actually count on them to exhibit the kind of boorish, narcissistic behavior we can't do ourselves.
Congressional portrait with U.S. flag in the backg...
Headshot of John Kerry with the U.S. flag in the b...
"The Real Deal"But Michael has the misfortune to be stuck back in the limbo of pre-adolescence: pillow fights, hot chocolate with marshmallows--and sleep-overs. A great deal has been made of the fact that he only has sleep-overs with boys--but that's what 12-year-old boys do. It's pre-pubescent--they don't get girls yet. A 60-year-old rock star smashing up his hotel room may be a bit pathetic, but a 45-year-old man who likes to sleep with young boys--well, let's face it, this does sound a bit creepy. But perhaps (and we're giving him a wide benefit of the doubt here) he's not necessarily someone who molests 12 year olds--maybe he just thinks he is a 12 year old whose childhood habits have been hermetically sealed by fame. Neverland is a giant pre-teen biosphere, an alternate reality that is maintained at huge costs...