Why is it considered a personal attack to state facts about who sponsors a given political candidate? I don't disagree about personal attacks being derailing. This woman wasn't issuing ad hominems, calling people pedophiles, or saying that they smell. The session she attended was convened for the purpose of discussing oil and gas legislation. She brought up the very valid and germane point that the people responsible for these decisions are taking MASSIVE sums of money from the people who benefit from this legislation being passed. This is a problem, and the nature of this problem is such that it resists any and all solutions because the means and methods by which this kind of problem are addressed have been compromised. In this instance, there is blatantly no difference between lobbying and bribery. Basically, personal attacks are generally destructive and derailing to discussion.
Because the amount of time wasted in argument over the semantics of what qualifies or not as a personal attack would be at least as detailing as those initial attacks, if not prone to political manipulation a la a filibuster. What determines if I am personally attacked? How your comments about me make me feel? Well. If I don’t want something to be discussed I can be offended by any word, every word, all day.
So honestly I don’t know. I have an idea or two but no idea how workable they’d be. Again honestly tho- not my problem. Not my issue that I’ve chosen to tackle. Mostly my point is: if you go someplace and do something against their generic rules, yes you’re probably going to get kicked out, regardless of how idealist your porpoise