“Arguments should be about ideas, not people. … Critical thinking lives and dies by arguments, not insults.”

I could — and perhaps at some point I will — write an entire piece on this crucial insight. Not only is it a matter, as you suggest, of avoiding personal attacks when engaging in debate but it’s also just as — if not ultimately more — important to be able to entertain and think critically about ideas independently of the person who offers them.

I don’t mean we shouldn’t evaluate the legitimacy or reputability of the sources of ideas. Rather, I mean we must be capable of judging ideas on their own merits as opposed to lazily or cowardly abandoning such analysis because of controversy, political correctness, or an inability to separate what is said from who says it.

Summarizing Aristotle’s work in Nicomachean Ethics, somebody once said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” It seems to me many people have, unfortunately, forgotten about this principle today — some likely never even learned it in the first place.

If it’s not evident, I enjoyed reading this piece, and I commend you for writing about this important topic!