2008 Woodie Awards
Letter: Reader upset by personal attacks against LiVolsi
Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: Editorial/Opinion
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11/01/07 - To the Cigar,
I felt inclined to write this letter because I woke up one fine morning, went to read my morning paper and found an article attacking my friend of many years, Joe LiVolsi. I am writing this letter to show how ridiculous the statements and accusations in that letter are.
First, when you write a rebuttal to a letter, you attack the argument or the letter, not the writer. When I saw a letter that was in response to his, I was glad that he caused some debate. Instead of a well-planned letter that had arguments and points that actually dealt with Islamo-Facism, I was disgusted to see one filled with logical fallacies and personal attacks.
The first thing Miss Long did was call Mr. LiVolsi a racist. This has nothing to do with his letter. This attack is a logical fallacy, or to be specific, an ad hominem. In an ad hominem argument, the writer rejects the opposing views by attacking the person who holds them. She is trying to bring down his argument by bringing down Mr. LiVolsi himself, essentially avoiding the subject completely.
Also, I see no evidence of Mr. LiVolsi being a racist whatsoever in his letter, because he is not attacking blacks, Muslims, Indians, Iraqis, or any racial group at all. The only time he mentions racial groups is when he is speaking well of them. Not once does he specify that Muslims or Pakistani are evil and should be attacked.
He is attacking a group of people who kill thousands in the name of their religion. He does not even attack the Islamic religion, just the fascists who are committing these horrific "religious acts."
Also, I have known Mr. LiVolsi for many years now. We are good friends and in no way is he a racist, nor has he shown hatred to anyone except those who wrong others.
The second thing that Ms. Long points out is that she has friends who are Muslim and he does not. (An assumption on her part.) Then she says because of this "who do you think you are to make such accusations."
I felt inclined to write this letter because I woke up one fine morning, went to read my morning paper and found an article attacking my friend of many years, Joe LiVolsi. I am writing this letter to show how ridiculous the statements and accusations in that letter are.
First, when you write a rebuttal to a letter, you attack the argument or the letter, not the writer. When I saw a letter that was in response to his, I was glad that he caused some debate. Instead of a well-planned letter that had arguments and points that actually dealt with Islamo-Facism, I was disgusted to see one filled with logical fallacies and personal attacks.
The first thing Miss Long did was call Mr. LiVolsi a racist. This has nothing to do with his letter. This attack is a logical fallacy, or to be specific, an ad hominem. In an ad hominem argument, the writer rejects the opposing views by attacking the person who holds them. She is trying to bring down his argument by bringing down Mr. LiVolsi himself, essentially avoiding the subject completely.
Also, I see no evidence of Mr. LiVolsi being a racist whatsoever in his letter, because he is not attacking blacks, Muslims, Indians, Iraqis, or any racial group at all. The only time he mentions racial groups is when he is speaking well of them. Not once does he specify that Muslims or Pakistani are evil and should be attacked.
He is attacking a group of people who kill thousands in the name of their religion. He does not even attack the Islamic religion, just the fascists who are committing these horrific "religious acts."
Also, I have known Mr. LiVolsi for many years now. We are good friends and in no way is he a racist, nor has he shown hatred to anyone except those who wrong others.
The second thing that Ms. Long points out is that she has friends who are Muslim and he does not. (An assumption on her part.) Then she says because of this "who do you think you are to make such accusations."