The Ad Verecundiam Shift

Reader comment on item: Hugging Iraq's Leaders
in response to reader comment: Knows a lot

Submitted by LD Cary (United States), May 5, 2006 at 19:08

You correctly state that "There is nothing wrong in being more intelligent than 54 million US citizens." It is, though, an ad verecundiam argument wherein you are not qualified, nor is anyone for that matter, to make such a claim. Cure cancer, find the vacine for the bird flu, and finish Einstein's Unified Theory of the Universe, and we'll consider you claim of "being more intelligent..." Short of that--no sale.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".