Rozalia1 said:
I suppose it'd be alright for you to start referring to things such as say your car as being painted the colour N-guesswhat too right?
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/strawman
The poster in question countered a commonly-used insult (elitist) with another commonly-used insult (tard, short for retard). Both are known to be insulting words. Neither are as bad as ******, but where your logic train derails is in attributing too much meaning to the words used (only looking at them on the surface, a very shallow view given the depth and history behind each word) and not to the intent behind them.
The first poster meant it as an insult - the full quote there is
PC elitists are obviously going to be butthurt for no reason. It's no longer about, oh the games gotten more sales, that's nice it's all about "Lul, my box sold more dan ur box, hurr" >_>
Not only does this quote attempt to paint PC gamers as elitists, it also attempts to paint them as less intelligent (note the language used toward the end, in quotes). The intent behind this post is, quite obviously, to simply insult PC gamers - an attack on an "opposing" group of gamers whose attitude and character he intended to disparage. Noting this blatant and overt insult, another poster responded with an obviously satirical "reaction,"
As opposed to console tards jumping at the opportunity to use an asinine, pointless, and ultimately meaningless sales statistic to attempt to both mock PC gamers and justify their purchase of their console of choice?
Complete with a footnote indicating his satire, and that it was a comically overblown reaction, just in case someone was thick enough to not see it the first time. The user himself has admitted he doesn't like the term, but it's common parlance on this and many other internet forums, so it fit the theme of his post. He also follows up with "See? I can make dismissive generalizations too. That doesn't make them true or any less insulting," showing his disdain for the ad hominem fallacious arguments presented by the first poster.
The intention behind what is posted matters far more than specific words or language used. A person intending to be hurtful can use no swear words or racial slurs and still get his point across - can still offend, can still degrade. Similarly, a person can use language full of swears and slurs and not offend anyone at all. It happens daily, everywhere around the world. Focusing on the surface level - only on word choice - shows a shocking lack of understanding of the power of language and an ignorance of its intricacies. Don't be afraid to dig a little deeper - it's what makes us human. If you can only ever see what's on the surface, you will miss the majority of meaning in everything you do.
What irks me most about your posts is your obvious intention to be offensive yourself, with a self-styled insult you bandy about at will. You attack other users' characters and personality, with logical fallacies like "I'd hope you would have been "big" enough to say that it was wrong to make such a remark" (
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem) while attempting to claim that "such a crude insult" should be avoided at all costs, ignoring language's power to be hurtful and disparaging without using any "crude" language whatsoever. Hypocrisy is quite common on the internet, I'm afraid, so I can't really grill you too hard on your blatant double standards.
In the end, you basically miss "the whole point" of language - its depth and complexity. While Vigormortis used the word "retard" in his post, he was not calling anyone a retard, not even the person he was responding to. He was not disparaging console players, PC players, or even people who suffer from mental illness - he was using it as an example to show how silly the "argument" of the previous poster was. And considering how bunched up your panties got over this, I'd say he succeeded.
