@OmSigDAVID,
"People turn their attention away from the subject-matter in dispute
and focus on their opposing debaters, ad hominem"
That sounds like the current political environment in our country today.
The technique was proven effective by Lee Atwater with Reagan. I'm not blaming either one of them, but that is when it started. It is still effective, that's why it is so common.
In a formal debate with moderators or a civil debate, that type of activity would be stopped, but not in politics.
It's a byproduct of our very fast paced communications media and the skill of it's professionals. It's led to a very negative attitude on the part of many people and I think a very destructive path. It will take an exceptional leader to change things much, if that is even possible. People have very short attention spans and grab onto what they want to hear, and a very small percentage spend any effort at all at fact checking. Also, most people have very poor listening skills. I worked as a manager in business for years and it is very hard to convince people they need to put effort into listening. They spend their time when not talking formulating thoughts to speak when they get the chance.
Humans love to argue. And humans are very competitive. This board and others I visit have the same phenomena. I certainly participate from time to time. It's in our nature. Cooperation is rare. The winner writes the history books, etc.
Like I said, it's part of our nature. I hope we figure out how to control it to some extent before our technology gives us the power to destroy the world.
