The Fallacy of Personal Attack in Editorial Cartoons

The Fallacy of Personal Attack in Editorial Cartoons. A fallacy is an idea or argument that is not based on good logic. There are many kinds of fallacies, and they are used very often today. One of the most commonly used fallacies is personal attack which happens when a person’s character is attacked instead of the real issue being addressed in a logical argument. This fallacy is also called “argumentum ad hominem,” which is Latin for “to the man,” because the character of the person making the argument is attacked instead of the actual argument itself (Raley 2008). An individual’s character is usually irrelevant to the actual argument, so it is not logical to base an argument on somebody’s character or personality. The fallacy of personal attack is used very often by politicians who often defend their views by attacking the character of political opponents. And it can also be found quite frequently in editorial cartoons.
Russell Hodin’s August 17, 2017 cartoon titled Trump Signals to Base is an example of using the fallacy of personal attack in an editorial cartoon (Hodin, 2017). This cartoon shows a Nazi swastika being projected into the sky from the White House. Racism has long been, and continues to be, a major problem in American society. In this cartoon, the cartoonist does not deal with the topic of racism in general, but intends to, and does, personally attack and label the President as racist, specifically a white supremist or Nazi. While the President has made some comments that can be construed as racist, it has never been proven that he is truly a racist or a member of the white supremist or Nazi party.

Furthermore, this personal attack on the President does absolutely nothing to address or deal with the true issue — racism in America today.
Another example of the fallacy of personal attack in an editorial comic is Aaron Chassy’s cartoon titled The Dope, published December 8, 2017. This cartoon appears to refer to achieving compromise and peace in the Middle East, specifically making Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Rather than use a logical argument for or against the issue, the cartoonist avoids the issue by attacking Donald Trump and calling him a “dope” (Chassy, 2017). The personal attack is irrelevant and does absolutely nothing to address, promote, or disprove any argument or opinion about peace in the Middle East.
Adam Zyglis’s Trump Checkup, in the Buffalo News on August 17, 2017, is another example of an editorial cartoon using the fallacy of personal attack. The cartoon depicts Trump at an eye examination reading from an eyechart. While the letters on the chart call Trump a racist, he reads the chart as, “I am not a racist” (Zyglis, 2017). Like the other cartoons based on personal attack, this one solely accuses Trump of being racist and does nothing to support that argument or opinion.
The above gives three examples of editorial cartoons that are fallacious and are solely personal attacks. None of these examples provide any support for the argument or opinion that they assert. Instead, the examples only contain attacks against the President’s character, which does absolutely nothing to support any argument that may have been asserted.
Works Cited
Chassy, Aaron. “The Dope”. December 8, 2017. AAEC Reference Number: 165714.
Hodin, Russell. “Trump Signals to Base,” New Times San Luis Obispo. August 17, 2017. AAEC
Reference Number: 164052.
Raley, Yvonne. “Character Attacks: How to Properly Apply the Ad Hominem,” Scientific
American (2008). www.scientificamerican.com.
Zyglis, Adam. “Trump Checkup,” The Buffalo News. January 19, 2018. AAEC Reference
Number: 166725.