In introducing the most recent posting of Helen Epstein’s timely article, "Why Are We Funding Abuse in Ethiopia? " (originally published in The New York Review of Books, March 15, 2013), Ethiomedia has appended a note in which it called attention to a desperate act by the powers that be in Ethiopia. It elucidated:
The regime in Addis Ababa survives not by the support of the people but by the multitudes of spies or undercover agents under its payroll. The agents may range from the ordinary spy in the street in Addis up to those in the Diaspora. The job of the cyber agents in the Diaspora is to discredit any article critical of the regime in power. Their unique feature? They are ordered to respond en masse to create the illusion that the article is indeed opposed by the majority of Ethiopians. If scores have already tried to discredit the report by Dr. Epstein, it is not because they are honest but because they are paid cyber agents whose full-time job is to defend the tyrannical regime in Addis.
How true! Here is another case of a victimized scholar a la Dr. Epstein: Professor Dr. Tesfatsion Medhanie of Bremen University. In a harangue posted on www.ethiopatriots.com in response to Prof. Tesfatsion’s article regarding Eritrea which appeared in Ethiomedia, a person using the pseudonym Asteway Beqele posted a flyer entitled: "ፕሮፌሰር ተስፋጽዮን መድሃኔ ተብየው የኢትዮጵያ አካል በሆነችው በኤርትራ ብሔራዊ ጥቅማችን ላይ እንደነ ወልደአብ ወ/ማርያምና ስብሃት ነጋ በከረረ ጠላትነት የቆመ ቀጣፊ ባንዳ". On the face of it, this article has no substance whatsoever. It is the best example of the syllogistic argument of Ad Hominem.
For those not initiated into the structure of Aristotelian Syllogism, the Latin term Ad Hominem stands for "against the man". In other words, the statement has nothing to do with the argument of the person’ whose ideas he is opposing. Simply put, the statement is a brazen insult, what we call in Amharic not simply "sidib" but "tera sidib" As any person knows, "tera sidib" is resorted to in order to silence an opponent, rather than to refute the validity of an argument.
Flying against truth, a statement is rejected by a person using
Ad Hominem, a living example of whom is Asteway, on the basis of some irrelevant fact about an author or person presenting an argument.
Ad Hominem
fallacy goes through two steps. First, an attack against the character, personality or looks of a person making an argument is made. Second, the attack is presented as evidence against the claim or argument the person in question is making. In its simplistic form, Ad Hominem argument is presented in the following form:
1. A makes claim z.
2. B piles insult or attack on A.
3. Therefore A's claim is false.
The reason why an Ad Hominem is syllogistically a major fallacy is, the character, circumstances, or actions of a person do not necessarily have a bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim being made or the quality of the argument presented by a person.
Mark that in his insipid flyer, Asteway says nothing about the validity of Dr. Professor Testation’s; argument that the Woyanes led by Melesism and the Shabiyas led by Isayasism are committed to Tigray- Tigrigni. He says nothing about Professor Tesfatsion’s empirical evidence that the leadership of the TPLF as exemplified by Sebhat Nega have openly admitted in interviews conducted by scholars that they consider Tigray and not Ethiopia as their mother country. Instead Asteway spurts insulting phrases such as "ፕሮፌሰር ተስፋጽዮን መድሃኔ በሰይጣን አዋላጅነት ከአራዊት ሆድ ወጥቶ እንደ እርሱ ከድታ የሸሸችውን ስስ ፀጉሩን እያፍተለተለና ሽናፕ እንደ ተኪላ እየገለበጠ ቀላማጅ ባንዳ ጠላት፣… …የቄስ ተማሪ የፍርፋሪ መያዣ ኰረጆ የማይሞላ.. የሰውን ዘር ሊፈጅ የሚያስብ ጥቁር ኤስ ኤስ ናዚ … የኢትዮጵያ አምላክ ይህን ጉቶ ራስ እሱኑ በጣጥሶ ገሃነመ_ እሳት ይለጣጥፈው … From this one can clearly see how low TPLF’s minions can stoop to silence honest scholars who expose their corrupt and treasonous bosses!
To confuse readers, in the title of his diatribe, Asteway tries to project an air of extreme Ethiopian nationalist agenda. When you read between the lines, however, the claim is evidently hollow. His lumping together the likes of Sebhat Nega (Tigrayan Nationalist) and Wolde Ab Woldemariam (Eritrean Nationalist) is to hide the fact that he is a mole of Melesism and/or Isayasism. Like Tortoise, Moles hide under cover so as not to reveal their identity. This is the only way they can spread their lies – unchallenged face to face. But as Karl Barth puts it (quoted in the New York Times, Dec. 11, 1968), "A man can certainly keep on lying but he cannot make truth falsehood."
Dr. Professor Tesfatsion has not, at least so far, replied to this bizarre tirade emanating from the enemies of the Ethiopian and the Eritrean people and rightly so. After all, as Molière put it "A Wiseman is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behaviour is to ignore it" (Molière: the Wood be Gentleman, 1670)
Dr. Kidane can be reached at kidaneleta@gmail.com
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