This video shows an interview of Reza Aslan by Fox News host Lauren Green that demonstrates the Ad Hominem Fallacy. The interview is supposed to focus on the content of Aslan’s recently released book, Zealot: The Life and Time of Jesus of Nazareth. Instead, Green insists on questioning to why Aslan (a Muslim) would write a book about Jesus, in spite of his repeated retort that, as an academic scholar of world religions, this is his job.
Of all of the logical fallacies that I teach my students about, the Ad Hominem attack is the one that I tend to drill into them the most. As a class, we spend a fair amount of time examining and discussing arguments. I make it clear to my students that these arguments must always be evaluated on their own merits, and never on the merits of the one who first said or penned the argument. This video is one of the examples that I show.
I generally only play the first minute and a half or so. The point comes across quite clearly early in the video.
Green is trying to discredit the arguments of Aslan’s book not on the merit or lack thereof of his argumentation, but because he is a Muslim writing about a figure associated with Christianity.
He repeatedly points out to her that this is his job as a scholar of world religions and, as he says, he “has been studying the origin of Christianity for two decades [and] also just happens to be a Muslim.” Later in the video, Aslan even points out that it does not seem as though Green even took the time to read his book before the interview.
After playing part of the interview, I turn it off and ask the students “do you agree or disagree with the claims Reza Aslan makes in his new book, Zealot?” Of course, the students have no way of answering this question.
When I ask them why they cannot tell me about Aslan’s arguments, the answer invariably emerges: because Green only focused on personal facts about him, rather than on the arguments in his book.
I point out to them that an Ad Hominem attack is not only to be avoided for the sake of tact or avoiding rudeness, but because Ad Hominem attacks will without fail cover over and mask the actual arguments being presented.
Possible Readings: I have used this video in conjunction with Hurley, Patrick J. A Concise Introduction to Logic.
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Timothy McGarvey
Timothy McGarvey is a PhD student at the University of South Florida where he works primarily on Friedrich Nietzsche and Environmental Ethics.
