Believe me, I have heard far too many times in my life What gives you the right to call blah blah wrong? Well, the best retort I know to that came from a Dominican priest, Father Jim Murray. He said you throw the question right back at the accuser: What gives you the right to call blah blah right?
He's, ahem, right. If I don't have the right, to the best of my knowledge and understanding, to call something wrong, why do you have the right to call it right? Or even just to assert it doesn't matter or is none of my business? Why can you use your judgement but I can't use mine?
We're talking about an issue (in this case blah blah) about which I have as much right to an opinion (right or wrong) as you do (right or wrong). You're essentially saying I'm wrong for no reason except that you apparently don't want me to be right.
It's really a form of the ad hominem argument, attacking the speaker instead of the speaker's points. It dodges the question at hand by trying to claim I have no right to express my position. And blah blah is, I assure you, a critical question.
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