OBAMA AND THE RIGHT: THE AD HOMINEM ATTACK STRATEGY

Who is this guy Dan Gainor? Well, he exemplifies someone worth talking about during our current national crises. Gainor's picture and resume headline this post for a reason. First, please check out his opinion piece here. His entire editorial, released by Fox News, is based on a statistic he cites (but suspiciously does not source) that President Obama has mentioned himself 1,200 times in speeches since taking office. Gainor concludes that the statistic proves Obama is selfish. In fact, Gainor diagnoses him as a Narcissist (anyone see psychologist listed in Gainor's resume?) Gainor's editorial is nothing more than a classic abusive ad hominem attack.

Ad hominem attacks can be extremely unfair and irresponsible. They come from someone who has no substance to argue their position. The attacks lack reason and logic in favor of appealing to emotion. In doing so, the person attacks an opponent's character rather than their policy or position. Ad hominem attacks are frequently used as a propaganda tool to bolster a weaker position. In a way, they demonstrate lack of character since the perpetrator of ad hominem attacks can't admit their position on an issue is sterile. On a national level, ad hominem attacks stifle progress, prevent solution, and ultimately hurt all of us.

See if you can follow this: Our country has a huge multitude of unprecedented problems. We have a new president. The President is expected to talk to us about how he is going to solve these enormous problems. In talking to us, the President is going to have to say the word "I" a lot since it is his actions that are going to address our problems. Is this simple concept beyond the scope of understanding for the average person? It is if that person's name is Dan Gainor.

Instead of examining the substance of Obama's speeches and coming up with some facts to dispute Obama's positions, Gainor throws all of that aside in favor of just saying that Obama is selfish. And when Gainor mentions that Obama was on five talk shows this week, instead of breaking down the substance of what Obama said about the issues on each of those talk shows, he simply characterizes all appearances as selfish because there were so many of them. It is really pointless to cite more examples from Gainor's nonsense, it is just more of the same.

Dan Gainor knows that he cannot compete apples to apples with the details of Obama's solutions. You don't think so? Why else then would he resort to a personal ad hominem attack rather than counter Obama by presenting concrete details of the issues as he sees it? I challenge you to find any substance on the issues in Gainor's piece. Dan Gainor has nothing, so he resorts to name calling in order to get a small propaganda victory for his ideological position on the Right. Does he really care about the rest of us or just himself and his career?

And Mr. Gainor is not alone. This ad hominem strategy comes from the Left and the Right, but it has become the creme de la creme of propaganda tools for the Right and this should be a concern to all. There is no question the strategy has an effect. People are often not capable of critically processing this propaganda because it appeals to our emotions. In Gainor's piece, it says, "Hey, who in God's name mentions themselves 1,200 times? That would be selfish and Obama did so he must be selfish." And many people walk away from Gainor's piece thinking just that without really thinking about why he might have reasonably mentioned himself so much. Job well done on Gainor's part in the successful propaganda department.

From a solution-oriented point of view, it really doesn't ever make any sense to participate in an abusive ad hominem attack even if the other side does so; on a national level, these attacks hurt the country and really are extremely selfish no matter which way you look at it. It makes solution impossible.

So, it is not President Obama that is selfish as Mr. Gainor asserts, it is in fact Mr. Gainor and his piece that are the selfish culprits here. His attack really only serves his interests and hurts the rest of us in the process. By putting Mr. Gainor's self-published resume and picture front and center above, it is hoped that Mr. Gainor gets the rest of the attention he desires so that he can finally dispense with the garbage and get to the business of working together to solve our country's problems.

UPDATE: Well, Dan Gainor responded. This is what he said: "This attack on me made me laugh. Apparently, it seems beyond the ken of the author here that we tallied Obama ourselves." Out of all the things in my article, he only had an issue with the 5 words that question his source? Since he had no issue with the rest of the article, I take it as confirmation that even he understands the truth in it. Thanks Dan!