Occasionally people attack our character rather than our arguments. They should read this by David Riesman: Defamation of opponents is one of the standard devices of political propaganda. In the fascist tactic, defamation becomes a form of verbal sadism, to be used in the early stages of the conflict, before other forms of sadism are safe. The violence and daring of verbal onslaughts exercise a great appeal over the imagination of lower middle-class folk who live insipid and anxious lives; the … [Read more...]