We will take the empty young man
Who knows nothing and has no wisdom
And we will fill him up
To bursting with pompousness
With the vacuous ideas
That since we have put him up front
That must mean that he is
Knowledgeable and wise after all
And that God himself has ordained it.
Category Archives: Fallacy
Being “Neurotypical” May Not Be Something to Which We Should Aspire!
Most people are said to be “neurotypical”—meaning, more or less, that the way their minds work is “normal”. And then, in contrast to that, there are the “neurodiverse” people, who are “wired” differently in one way or another, we are told—and who, as a result, may have different aptitudes and life habits to some extent.
The world is still trying to get its head around this idea, and so am I. And there may well be something to it, but the question is “what exactly is that something”? That’s the question, right?
Continue reading Being “Neurotypical” May Not Be Something to Which We Should Aspire!Looking for a Way Out
If you make an error in what you say—even if it’s ancillary to the point you’re making—there are many who will seize the opportunity to focus on the error, and to ignore your main point.
And some will judge poorly in what they count as errors in your speech. For example, here are two common occurrences.:
- If you make use of an absolute in what you say, some will choose to argue on principle that you ought not use absolutes in your statements—even though they cannot provide even one good counterexample to your claim. This, too, is a dodge.
- If you use an unapologetic tone in what you say, some will choose to object to your tone on moral grounds, and disregard your point, even though they cannot refute it by honest, rational, and responsible means. This is also a dodge.
And even if you don’t use absolutes, and do include lots of apologetic language and leave lots of room that you might be wrong, or include plenty of warnings that this is only your opinion or your feeling about the thing, then many will decide that it must be simply opinion, and that it has no basis in fact whatsoever.
People generally have many different techniques of dodging truths they don’t like. They do it to themselves and to their friends, and they’ll do it to you, too. Few are nearly as good at recognizing the truth of a matter as they think they are.
It Is an Amazing Gift
It is an amazing gift that man has the faculties
For observation and analysis,
And for drawing conclusions and sticking to them.
If You Argue Long with a Fool
If you argue long with a fool—
And well and true and honorably—
You should be prepared
To be accused of arrogance.
13 Simple Steps to Culling the Gun Control Memes
ITEMS NEEDED: Large table, printer, paper, trash can.
Sorting through the multitude of gun control memes can be overwhelming. So I suggest culling out the ones that cheat, so that you can focus on the best ones. Here are 13 easy steps to clear the table of all but the best gun control ideas.
Continue reading 13 Simple Steps to Culling the Gun Control MemesThere She Sits, Ready to Pounce
There she sits, ready to pounce
On the least little suggestion
That God actually expects the Christian
To do anything.
She Leads with Logic
She leads with logic
In this case she is making—
As if believing
(And expecting quite naturally to be agreed with by all)
That valid logic is authoritative,
And ought rightfully
To rule the day.
But WHICH Reality?
In my frequent discussions about truth/reality, I’m often asked a question of this general sort:
“But which reality? The one about how things actually are, or the one that people perceive or believe?”
It’s a very common point of confusion in our society, yet to me, the difference between the two is like night and day. The definition of reality that I use goes something like this:
Continue reading But WHICH Reality?They Tell Me Not To Try
They tell me not to try—
That I’m wasting my time.
But someone tried with me,
And I am the better for it.
They tell me it’s hopeless,
But I’ve experienced successes myself.
They tell me the people won’t listen,
But I listened.
And after a while of hearing such things,
He who says them begins to seem to me
The stupidest of all—
He who dares to declare for others
A fruitless future
When God himself—
The greatest wisher ever for the good of man—
Has still left them alive
To live in this world of possibility
Yet another day.
The naysayer thinks himself enlightened,
Yet cannot see the darkness in his outlook.
But I will speak to him of it.
I’ll push back for his good.
I don’t believe the others can’t change—
Nor that he himself can’t change
This darkened outlook.
Perhaps he’s mad because
I won’t give up like he has.
Or perhaps he’s simply forgotten
And needs a friendly nudge to remember.
If he sees that they are wrong
Not to listen about other things,
Perhaps he’ll see that he’s
Been so stubbornly wrong himself
Not to listen about this.
So don’t tell me that people can’t change—
That grandest excuse for mankind
In all of history.
Has there ever been a bigger lie?
I know it is a lie because
I have changed.
There’s too little hope in this world.
But I still have some.
And I still remember where I got it.