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Targeting another person in an argument instead of addressing the point.

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"Pappu" means a small boy. It most likely caught on from the "pappu pass ho gaya" ad campaign of a decade ago. "Feku" which probably means fake or someone who makes fake promises. "Kujliwal" meaning an itchy person is used to refer to Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi CM, probably in the sense that he is someone who is always complaining. "Jhumla" is used in the sense of "empty promise" but the word actually means sum or aggregate. These lowbrow labels are not used exclusively to refer to politicians. Anyone who supports any Modi policy is a "bhakt". Anyone who opposes any Modi policy is Sickular. If you support AAP, you are an AAPtard (the etymology should be a no-brainer). Terms like "Gabbar Singh Tax" may be thrown around when the topic beckons.

This phenomenon is not limited to our country. "Fake news" is any news that criticises Trump. Hillary Clinton was "Crooked Hillary" during the 2017 U.S. Presidential election campaign. Trump recently called Kim Jong-un "Rocket-man". Kim returned the favour by calling Trump "old". If all the above sound familiar, it's probably because you may have used them during your school days amid other profoundly wounding insults such as donkey, monkey, fatty etc.

ad hominem (adj.)

implies an attempt to win a debate by attacking the opponent's character by name-calling or open derision, rather than by refuting their argument through logically reasoned rebuttals. Who needs the skill of persuasion or the backing of facts when you can simply make your opponent back down, stung and emotionally battered, and emerge as a last man standing?

Public discourse

Such an ad-hominem approach does severe harm to the very purpose of debate and discourse. It damages if not destroys democracy's chances of uplifting society. And it essentially seems to benefit political parties, keeping the facts of an issue out of the public discourse and popular consciousness. Parties that use and encourage the use of the above derogatory terms have been successfully deflecting your attention from the actual issues that need discussing or investigation.

For instance, when Rahul Gandhi brought up the issue of Amit Shah's son's business growth, you'd ideally expect the political discourse to have involved an explanation or qualification from the person accused or, by extension, his father, who is said to be the influence behind his growth. Irrespective of it being true or false, it should have been defended and countered with facts. The news, however, was not the BJP's defence or the data behind Congress' accusation. Instead, it was covered for Rahul Gandhi being asked to step out of his diapers, a reference to him being a kid or a "pappu".

There are numerous such instances in day-to-day political exchanges where the actual issue is being shrouded by the barrage of childish name-calling. It can't be too outlandish to suspect whether all political parties secretly collude to enact the charade of name-calling simply to keep the public engaged in futile duels, keep them in the dark. Except for a precious few who put in the effort to understand the mechanisms and numbers when it comes to issues like GDP, unemployment or FRDI bill, the general voting mass is kept in the dark by people on both sides of the political spectrum. And uninformed voters nullify the benefits of being in a democracy.

While a productive political discussion involves the participants making cogent points and responding in a balanced manner that forwards the narrative and reconciles discrepancies, unfortunately...

... the political discussion today is more like...

Person 1: All Feku does is fake promises. Demonetisation and GST are scams.

Person 2: Typical of what one can expect from a fan of pappu and aaptard.

Person 1: Only bhakt like you will fall for the Jhumlas.

Person 2: Pappu needs to come out of his diaper and Kujliwal should apply cream. You sickular and libtard are anti-national and should go to Pakistan.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the former American President, said, "The real safeguard of democracy is Education". It is up to the masses to choose not to vent their discontent through name-calling like five-year-olds and vote based on the conclusions arrived at through rational debate and discussion on issues that matter.

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How to kill democracy and discourse? Call each other names

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"Pappu" means a small boy. It most likely caught on from the "pappu pass ho gaya" ad campaign of a decade ago. "Feku" which probably means fake or someone who makes fake promises. "Kujliwal" meaning an itchy person is used to refer to Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi CM, probably in the sense that he is someone who is always complaining.

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Used to describe something cold, harsh, or severe.

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Cardinal Angelo Sodano said in his homily that everyone needs to confess their sins

Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned as archbishop of Boston when it became clear he had knowingly transferred priests accused of sexually abusing children, made mistakes as all people do, Cardinal Angelo Sodano said at his funeral yesterday.

Cardinal Sodano, as dean of the College of Cardinals, celebrated the funeral Mass for Cardinal Law at the Altar of the Chair in St Peter's Basilica.

In his homily, Cardinal Sodano said, "unfortunately, each one of us can sometimes lack in fidelity to our mission. That is why, at the beginning of every Mass, we say the 'Confiteor,'" the prayer that begins, "I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned."

Cardinal Law died in a Rome hospital early on Wednesday morning.

Pope Francis, as is customary for the funerals of cardinals who die in Rome, arrived at the end of Mass to preside over the final commendation and farewell. In the Catholic funeral rite, the final commendation and farewell are formal prayers entrusting the deceased to the mercy of God.

The Pope read the prayers in Latin, sprinkled the cardinal's casket with holy water and blessed it with incense. But he made no remarks about the cardinal or his life.

In his homily, Cardinal Sodano told the small group of mourners that Cardinal Law had "dedicated his life" to the church with 56 years of service as a priest, bishop and cardinal "of the great diocese of Boston" before his appointment as archpriest of Rome's Basilica of St Mary Major.

"It was precisely here in Rome that he closed his eyes to this world to open them in the light of eternity," Cardinal Sodano said.

Callista Gingrich, who was about to present her letters of credential to Pope Francis as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, and her husband, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, were among those attending the funeral.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Cardinal Law's successor in Boston, said in a statement yesterday: "In the Catholic tradition, the Mass of Christian burial is the moment in which we all recognise our mortality, when we acknowledge that we all strive for holiness in a journey which can be marked by failures large and small."

"Cardinal Law," he added, "will be buried in Rome where he completed his last assignment."

The cardinal will be buried in Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major where he served as archpriest from 2004 to 2011.

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'Each one of us can lack fidelity': Cardinal Law given austere funeral at St Peter's | CatholicHerald.co.uk

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Cardinal Angelo Sodano said in his homily that everyone needs to confess their sins Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned as archbishop of Boston when it became clear he had knowingly transferred priests accused of sexually abusing children, made mistakes as all people do, Cardinal Angelo Sodano said at his funeral yesterday.

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Going against the way of something sacred or holy.

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A gradual ascension or lead-up to a peak.

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To take away a right or freedom.

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On Wednesday night, the White House announced that it would disband the Election "Integrity" Commission led by Vice President Pence and Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State of Kansas, citing the refusal of state officials to go along with Kobach's reckless plan to collect sensitive data on every single voter in the country.

Donald Trump formed the commission after he falsely claimed that he was the true winner of the national popular vote in the 2016 presidential election, claiming that his nearly 3 million vote deficit was the result of voter fraud. Despite failing to produce any proof of rampant voter fraud, the White House insisted in its statement last night that there is still "substantial evidence" of fraud. The president tweeted this morning that the " System is rigged, must go to Voter I.D."

The Trump administration also announced that the Department of Homeland Security will take up the voter fraud cause, and Kobach told Politico that "he expects officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and political appointees overseeing that agency to take over the commission's work and begin efforts to match state voter rolls to federal databases of noncitizen."

All signs suggest that Homeland Security will use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program (SAVE) database, which is used to verify citizenship and immigration status, to see if non-citizens have registered to vote.

When Colorado, North Carolina, and Florida tried to use SAVE to see if non-citizens were on the voter rolls, the states experienced disastrous results, incorrectly flagging many U.S. citizens. Because SAVE is not updated regularly, many people who naturalized as citizens could still be listed as non-citizens. In 2012, the Justice Department said that Florida's use of SAVE had "critical imperfections," and led to "errors that harm and confuse eligible voters." Amid widespread concerns of inaccuracy, Florida eventually abandoned its efforts to use the SAVE database after its purge was ruled illegal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Because of the huge amount of false positives, using SAVE to purge voter rolls could be disastrous.

But purging voters is Kobach's aim.

Kobach, who gained national notoriety for his relentless efforts to disenfranchise tens of thousands of Kansans, met with Trump before his inauguration and reportedly was a source for the president's unsubstantiated claim that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in the presidential election.

The ACLU challenged Kobach's efforts in Kansas and was able to unseal the documents from his meeting with Trump. These records revealed that despite the administration's insistence that the probe had no " preordained" notions or results, the commission's vice chair, Kobach, had lobbied Trump and senior advisers to gut the National Voter Registration Act as early as Nov. 20, 2016. The commission would give the White House the justification to push for such a plan, and Kobach packed the panel with others who have aggressively fanned fears of widespread voter fraud like Hans von Spakovsky, J. Christian Adams, and Ken Blackwell.

The commission faced serious resistance from the start. At least 15 lawsuits, including the ACLU's, were filed and dozens of states refused to comply with the commission's overreaching requests.

Kobach's own efforts to find voter fraud in the 2016 election were discredited, though he falsely argued that thousands out-of-state voters had cast ballots in New Hampshire. Trump, for his part, cited the statements of an obscure partisan activist who still has not released any evidence that voter fraud occurred in the presidential election.

While Trump's commission may be disbanded, attempts by his administration and Kris Kobach to lay the groundwork for voter suppression are far from over.

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Trump Wants Homeland Security to Continue Dirty Work of Voter Suppression

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Purging voters is Kobach's aim... On Wednesday night, the White House announced that it would disband the Election "Integrity" Commission led by Vice President Pence and Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State of Kansas, citing the refusal of state officials to go along with Kobach's reckless plan to collect sensitive data on every single voter in the country.