To: JohnM who wrote (34081 ) 7/10/2002 12:22:46 PM From: Nadine Carroll Read Replies (1) | Respond to What Said and Lewis have said to one another, at least what I've read of it is pretty standard fare for a certain kind of hotheaded academic debate. I don't like it; don't engage in it; but it strikes me as within the bounds. is permissible to indulge in a pure ad hominem attack rather than address his points (Said's review contained scarcely a speck of information about what Lewis actually said), just so long as you don't actually use the word "despicable"? Terms like "unqualified", "patronising", "no first-hand experience", those terms are okay. Just avoid any actual words that would (to the sensitive) seem to put your opponent in the "less than human" catagory. Use nice words to call him a hack and an idiot.before it was published. But then, if ad hominem attacks are "in bounds", where's the problem?meforum.org Ivory Towers in the Sand book with a note on all the new funding heading to even the most politicized of ME Studies departments. He does give Said his due, saying that Said keeps his politics out of the classroom -- but this cannot be said of Said's many followers.meforum.org
