Quote Originally Posted by wm View Post
Here's a formalization of the proof that I used:
1. Buchan does not like wars and tries to stop them (true from Wikipedia)
2. Buchan authorized Canada's declaration of war (true from Wikipedia)
3. If a person claims to have certain beliefs about what is right but behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs, then that person is a hypocrite. (Paraphrase into a conditional of the meaning of hypocrite-true by definition.)
4. Buchan said one thing/claimed certain beliefs, and he behaved differently (from premises 1 and 2 above by instantiation and conjunction introduction)
5 Buchan is a hypocrite (from 3 and 4 by Modus Ponens)

So the "cheap shot" I posted was actually much more watered down than what I actually concluded from what I read.
Can I try some sophistry too?

Here goes.

Mother of the year is a pacifist and wouldn't hurt anybody or anything anywhere for any reason. She lived her life by that and never wavered. She didn't swat mosquitoes, she gently brushed them away and wished them well. One day she comes home and a home invader has her 14 year old daughter down and is beating her and from the state of dishabille of both parties, the home invader is about to have his way with the girl. Mother picks up a golf club and cracks the home invader's head like a melon and keeps on swinging. The club breaks and she sticks the sharp end into the guy's heart.

Conclusion: Mother is a hypocrite.