Logical Fallacy of Abusive Ad Hominem / Character Assassination / Smear Campaign / Throwing Stones

The Logical Fallacy of Abusive Ad Hominem / Character Assassination / Smear Campaign / Throwing Stones occurs when the person or persons having an opposing view are defamed, mocked, or dishonored as an argument against their position.

When there is a real reason to believe, fallacies are unnecessary. All fallacies have their roots in one of three possibilities: infinite regress, circular reasoning, or axiomatic thinking. This choice between three fallacies is called Agrippa's trilemma. Abusive ad hominem is the type of fallacy that is used to cover up the fact that one or more of these three fallacies is underlying the conclusion or belief. Sometimes, people have a really good reason to believe what they believe, but they throw stones anyway. 

Examples of the Logical Fallacy of Abusive Ad Hominem / Character Assassination / Smear Campaign / Throwing Stones

Sometimes, an attempt is made to discredit the person through tactics such as name-calling or character assassination rather than addressing the evidence.

Often, this takes the form of trying to embarrass another person or group of persons rather than dealing with the evidence in a rational way.

A person has a belief that is based on assumptions and made-up stories. Someone starts to get close to exposing that under all the supposed evidence is no rational basis for thought. The person starts a smear campaign against the other person to shut them up. After executing an abusive ad hominem attack, the person feels totally justified and is more convinced than ever before that the "evidence" is valid. This person never realizes that the so-called "evidence" is based on assumptions and made-up stories.