My rebuttal -

My Dear Anonymous,

Your letter to the Editor regarding my previous letter has been a study of logical fallacy.  

Thank you for the real-life example you have provided.

Logical fallacies are errors in logic, which means that there is something false in the foundation of the argument.  It also means that person has an agenda.

Your first two paragraphs are an "Ad Hominem" attack.  This refers to the strategy of attacking the person rather than attacking the idea she presents. Rather than debate the original argument on its merits, the opponent makes an attack upon some irrelevant fact about the person presenting the theory or claim.

The third paragraph is a "red herring" fallacy.  The goal is to redirect the discussion or confuse the issues by introducing a diversionary topic that is not relevant to the debate.  The fallacy's name refers to the practice of dragging smelly fish across the trail of a fox to redirect the foxhounds.

The fourth paragraph is a "Bandwagon" fallacy.  This argument tries to make a person believe that everyone else is doing or believing something, so he should also. Instead of making a decision based on his own research or opinion, he is tempted to agree because of social pressure.

The fifth paragraph actually has some merit.  Still, one must wonder, since the question was asked at a public meeting,--Why was it not answered publicly?

And last but not least an "Appeal to Anonymous Authority", since the writer did not have the backbone to sign their name.

Sincerely,

Victoria Loveland