Personality Attacks

The other day, I came across an acquaintance's Facebook account. I saw the this person was a member of a group for people that cannot stand Bono. I looked at the group's message board and there were no explanations of why they dislike the rockstar. The closest to a reason I ever came across was a dislike of his demeanor. (One person quipped "what is the difference between God and Bono? God does not go around acting like Bono.") I do not believe that that is an adequate reason to hate a person.

Why do I tell this story? I have noticed this same criticism in politics (on both sides of the aisle). Critics of individual politicians typically do not criticize policies (though that happens often enough); instead, they criticize how they play to the crowds. People will say that they act too much like a celebrity, become too emotional, act too professional, act too informal, and so on. However, recall that people act differently in different situations (for example: talking to your best friend versus talking to a supervisor). Not to mention, everybody's personality is different. When people criticize personalities, they are, in fact, making character attacks. Unfortunately, all is fair in love, war, and politics.