One example is when Bess’s friend June dismissed the removal of books from the vending machine. Jne proposed a list of replacement books, and Bess pointed out the books June was proposing weren’t the same kinds of books as the books that were removed from the vending machine.
June asked Bess, “Why do you even care so much? I mean, most of the books that were pulled aren’t even about kids like us.”
Bess in reply told June she was missing the point. “The point isn’t about having only books that are like us. It’s about having books that are like everyone!”
One area that concerned me was when Bess’s mother resorted to tone policing, telling Bess that “No matter how angry or frustrated you get, raising your voice and yelling accomplishes nothing and only serves to move the conversation away from the point you’re making toward the way you’re making it.”
Dictionary.com defines tone policing as “a conversational tactic that dismisses the ideas being communicated when they are perceived to be delivered in an angry, frustrated, sad, fearful, or otherwise emotionally charged manner.”
And Wikipedia identifies tone policing as a type of ad hominem. “Ignoring the truth or falsity of a statement, a tone argument instead focuses on the emotion with which it is expressed. This is a logical fallacy because a person can be angry while still being rational.”
Tone policing surfaced again later in the story when a shop owner told Bess that she didn’t like Bess’s tone and it concerned me that throughout this book, the tone policing went unchallenged.
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