Gizmo blocks Boxer from the Do Not Enter door while Boxer imagines Bruno pointing excitedly at a conspiracy board showing the Ad Hominem Attack fallacy in action

Attack the Person, Not Their Argument - The Ad Hominem Attack

Boxer suspects something behind an ominous door...

Boxer the bulldog and Gizmo the chihuahua stand before a Do Not Enter door at the start of an Ad Hominem Attack comic
Gizmo the chihuahua tells a shocked Boxer she heard Bruno made some nasty claims setting up an Ad Hominem Attack
Gizmo dismisses Bruno as a conspiracy theorist instead of addressing his claims showing the Ad Hominem Attack fallacy
A bizarre creature revealed behind the Do Not Enter door proving Bruno was right despite Gizmo's Ad Hominem dismissal

Oh, thank God! Bruno was just being a nutter, as usual. Nothing to worry about. Nothing behind that door.

Want to learn the horrible truth? Or do you want to stay in the dark? Dive deeper with our fun Making it Personal (Ad Hominem Attack) Activity Pack!

The Ad Hominem Attack In a Nutshell

The Ad Hominem Attack skips the argument entirely and goes straight for the person making it. Bruno tells Boxer something is behind that door. Rather than checking whether Bruno is right, Gizmo calls him a known conspiracy theorist. Case closed. No further questions.

The problem? Attacking who said something tells you nothing about whether it is true. Bruno could be the most unreliable character in the room and still be completely right. As it turns out, he was.

That is the Ad Hominem Attack. And it is probably the most common fallacy you will ever encounter.

See all 24 fallacies in What Are the Most Common Logical Fallacies?

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