The Long and the Short of it.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Wait, which argument of mine are you directing that towards? As in, what point did I make that you find contention with? I'm a bit lost in all this.

Oh, oops. Yeah,I guess there are a lot from which to choose.

RE: The Long and the Short of it.
Materialism is usually regarded as a pretty ridiculous stand-point by any smart philosopher, theologian, or free-thinker, Padraic. And with good reason, too.

My mistake,I misread.The argument is NOT argumentum ad populum,it's no true Scotsman.


All you have done is to make a bald assertion. You think materialism is ridiculous with good reason? Wonderful! Kindly outline the reason or reasons. The result may not change my mind,but you will at least be accorded some respect. Don't care? Fine,no skin off my arse.


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Your use of the fallacy indicates you are familiar with or do not understand the notion of the no true Scotsman, so:

No true Scotsman is a potential logical fallacy, an ad hoc attempt to retain an unreasoned assertion. When faced with a counterexample to a universal claim, rather than denying the counterexample or rejecting the original universal claim, this fallacy modifies the subject of assertion to tautologically exclude the specific case or others like it.[citation needed] The truth or falsehood of the new claim does not follow from the presence or absence of this fallacy.

The term was advanced by philosopher Antony Flew in his 1975 book Thinking About Thinking: Do I Sincerely Want to Be Right?.[1]

Imagine Hamish McDonald, a Scotsman, sitting down with his Glasgow Morning Herald and seeing an article about how the "Brighton Sex Maniac Strikes Again." Hamish is shocked and declares that "No Scotsman would do such a thing." The next day he sits down to read his Glasgow Morning Herald again and this time finds an article about an Aberdeen man whose brutal actions make the Brighton sex maniac seem almost gentlemanly. This fact shows that Hamish was wrong in his opinion but is he going to admit this? Not likely. This time he says, "No true Scotsman would do such a thing."
—Antony Flew, Thinking About Thinking (1975)
A simpler rendition would be:

Teacher: All Scotsmen enjoy haggis.
Student: My uncle is a Scotsman, and he doesn't like haggis!
Teacher: Well, all true Scotsmen like haggis. [quote]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman