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AdeleneDawner comments on Conversation Halters - Less Wrong
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The items on that list of appeals can also be ranked. According to mainstream US values, "Appeal to egalitarianism" trumps "Appeal to unquestionable authority", "Appeal to personal freedom" trumps "Appeal to egalitarianism"; and so on. The standard political talk show debate consists of a back-and-forth escalation up this ladder.
For example, in a televised debate on regulation:
Person 1: "The National Bureau of Economics Research published a study showing conclusively that regulation of X is harmful" (authority)
Person 2: "Well, I don't care what the elite economists say; the poor are not getting equal access to X and that is unfair." (egalitarianism)
Person 1: "Sure, it's unequal, but if the government played big brother with X, that would violate our fundamental freedoms." (personal freedom)
Meta: Why was this voted down? (I voted it up earlier, and it's at 0 karma at the moment.)
I understand that the actual point in the comment is tangential to the original article, and thus could be taken as off-topic or wrong, but I find it valuable to read such comments and the reactions that they evoke; such exchanges help point out the limitations of the tools and frameworks being discussed.
I voted it up as an interesting tangent and a credible point. While lunchbox is talking about a different usage of the appeals it does demonstrate that there is a blurry line there between 'conversation halter' and 'actual argument that isn't necessarily designed to end the debate except in as much as they think they other person should see their error and concur'. Intent, context and tone make huge differences here.