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>Why is dismissive labelling ok in one case, and not another?

Because the only source given for the quote was Chomsky himself*. In that case, the question of Chomsky's credibility is directly relevant.

* It's possible Chomsky had an actual source etc., but if so, it was not provided in the original comment.




The issue isn't if Chomsky's credibility is relevant, but on the credibility swipe itself: If Chomsky can be dismissed on all topics (zero credibility on anything) for alleged genocide denial, why isn't that "rhetoric that ignores X" for whatever X Chomsky might discuss?


I was dismissing Chomsky's testimony on anything, not anything he might say. If he said '2+2=4' that would be true (if also trivial). I regret not being 100% clear in a forum comment.


It was testimony aka credibility that I'm talking about.




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