Character Assassination
The devil is in the missing details.
An attempt to tarnish a person's reputation. It may involve exaggeration, misleading half-truths, or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person. It is a form of defamation and can be a form of ad hominem argument.
For living individuals targeted by character assassination attempts, this may result in being rejected by his community, family or member of his or her living or work environment. Such acts are often difficult to reverse or rectify, and the process is likened to literal assassination of a human life. The damage sustained can last a lifetime or, for historical figures, for many centuries after their death.
In practice, character assassination may involve doublespeak, spreading of rumors, innuendo or deliberate misinformation on topics relating to the subject's morals, integrity, and reputation. It may involve spinning information that is technically true, but that is presented in a misleading manner or is presented without the necessary contact. For example, ti might be said that a person refused to pay income tax during a specific year, without saying that no tax was actually owed due to the person having no income that year, or that a person was sacked from a firm, even though he may have been made redundant through no fault of his own, rather than being terminated for cause.
Source: Wikipedia.org
For living individuals targeted by character assassination attempts, this may result in being rejected by his community, family or member of his or her living or work environment. Such acts are often difficult to reverse or rectify, and the process is likened to literal assassination of a human life. The damage sustained can last a lifetime or, for historical figures, for many centuries after their death.
In practice, character assassination may involve doublespeak, spreading of rumors, innuendo or deliberate misinformation on topics relating to the subject's morals, integrity, and reputation. It may involve spinning information that is technically true, but that is presented in a misleading manner or is presented without the necessary contact. For example, ti might be said that a person refused to pay income tax during a specific year, without saying that no tax was actually owed due to the person having no income that year, or that a person was sacked from a firm, even though he may have been made redundant through no fault of his own, rather than being terminated for cause.
Source: Wikipedia.org
When a tactic such as character assassination is performed, the attacker never provides verifiable details or other specifics. The best way to combat this form of abuse is to encourage critical thinking by the people you can reach and that are most likely to be triangulated by the attacker.
