Ad hominem Making One's Relativism Absolute

Ad hominem is a tiring practice used by those who have nothing left to contribute to an honest pursuit of dialogue, progress and even truth itself. Ad hominem is part of the triumvirate that rules over the minds of those who must cling to partial-truth cliches, and symbols like the American flag as their final arbitrators of truth. This is all they ultimately offer in their contribution to society. The brightest minds cannot fathom all that is needed to know in order to fully function in perfection. Every great idea has its limitations. Einstein has been shown wrong, or rather incomplete on his theories. H. L. Mencken said something like "For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong". The much worshipped capitalism and the creation of corporations are models on how to work within our world and they are not infinitely wise gods, just clever inventions. They are fundamentally incomplete because they are models and not reality. So maybe socialism while not being a perfectly real model either, can provide some well-needed concepts to compensate for capitalism's weaknessess. In the business world, corporations often dismiss their social obligations or participation by taking them out of the equation and calling them "externalities", things that corporations ignore and choose for others to worry about.

So when we hear about "white persons"* visiting New Orleans on business report on how police from a community characterized with racial biases turned away "black people" when they were fleeing the flooded zone and were without food and water" , we get people who comment on this story... who are afraid of the truth or at least probing the possibility that life is different outside their own biases and they cling to the most usable of their ruling absolutes, in this case, ad hominem. It is easier to label the "challenger" as "socialists" and therefore they be damned of being of value. Only the tearful confession of the sheriff will sway this person that a wrong was committed, and even then this person will hug them and tell them its all right, and that its time to move on, and no more than an apology at best is needed. It's hard to accept things that challenge our perspectives. Oh, I know there is truth to the reliability of people based on their biases, but ad hominem occurs when potential biases is the grounds for dismissal, rather than keeping one's mind open.

* Note, while not mentioned in this story, I believe these persons were white based on hearing comments made on a radio interview by these people