Posts Tagged logic
Message to British Regarding American Criticism of BP’s Monumental Screw Up . . .
Posted by Lance Haley in BP oil spill, Business and Money, Capitalism, Economics, Energy, Environment, Oil, Politics, Pollution on June 11th, 2010
ENGLAND vs. U.S.A – WORLD CUP SOCCER or BP OIL FIASCO?
Help Americans understand this:
So you are distressed over the fact that Americans are extremely outraged at BP’s (formerly called British Petroleum) environmental disaster which is wrecking havoc on our Gulf Coast region; that our fury over this corporation’s massive blunder is somehow to blame for the precipitous drop in it’s stock price; that this drop in the value of BP’s stock has effected the value of many of your citizens’ pensions; therefore Americans need to “ratchet down” criticism of the company so that the stock price can go up again?
Interesting.
So when our Wall Street banks screwed up the world economy, thereby effecting the value of your citizens’ pension funds because they bought some of the over-rated collateralized debt obligations (CDO’s) these financial terrorists were selling, it was OK for you to whip them like the worthless dogs they are. However, when one of your energy corporations screws up, effecting the lives of millions of Americans living on the Gulf coast, we have to bite our tongues because that too negatively affects your retirement accounts?
Locke, Hobbes, Bentham, John Stewart Mills, Bertrand Russell - all great British philosphers. Men of extraordinary reason and intelligence. Did present day British citizens skip the class in Logic and Critical Thinking? These great British philosophers must be rolling over in their graves.
My ancestors left England (and Scotland) in order to come to the United States over 300 years ago.
Maybe for good reason . . . no pun intended.
Top Strategy in Fox News’ Playbook Exposed By Republican Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Posted by Lance Haley in Bill O'Reilly, Conservatives, Fox News, Glenn Beck, Government, House of Representatives, Media & Communication, Sarah Palin, Senate, Tea Party on April 6th, 2010
Re-elect Republican Senator Tom Coburn.
That’s right. I said it. Vote for a Republican. Even one I often disagree with.
You know why?
Because Tom Coburn has shown the courage of his convictions to not allow his constituents to be misled, or operate under false assumptions regarding misinformation that Fox News regularly feeds it’s viewers. Nor have them be deluded into believing that Nancy Pelosi is somehow loathsome merely because she is the Democratic Speaker of the House.
In a recent Town Hall meeting back in his home state of Oklahoma, Senator Coburn summarily dismissed a statement by one of his supporters that you could be put in jail for not buying health insurance under President Obama’s newly-passed Health Care Reform Bill, and openly criticized Fox News for its irresponsible dissemination of this kind of nonsense to it’s viewers:
“The intention is not to put any one in jail. That makes for good TV news on FOX but that isn’t the intention . . . [w]hat we have to have is make sure we have a debate in this country so that you can see what’s going on and make a determination yourself.”
When mentioning Speaker Pelosi by name, the crowd began to hoot and make personal attacks against her. In response, Senator Coburn admonished his supporters, lecturing them on the finer points of civility by saying this:
“Come on now. She is nice – how many of you all have met her? She’s a nice person . . . [j]ust because somebody disagrees with you doesn’t mean they’re not a good person . . . I’ve been in the senate for five years and I’ve taken a lot of that, because I’ve been on the small side –- both in the Republican Party and the Democrat Party . . . [s]o don’t catch yourself being biased by FOX News that somebody is no good.”
The context of his speech was the current debate over extending unemployment benefits, and his opposition to Speaker Pelosi’s policy of not providing current funding for the proposal – thus increasing the deficit. Whether you agree with his position on this – and I do not – I respect his willingness to not personalize the issue.
WOW!
A Republican teaching his constituents to think for themselves? To not take everything they hear or read at face value? That is both laudable and courageous. And it earns my respect as much as any Democrat’s position on policies. Especially in the current political environment. Senator Coburn seems less interested in pandering to Fox News’ liberal use of the most common form of invalid argumentation: Argument Ad Hominem, otherwise known as attacking the speaker instead of addressing the issue.
Under the rules of formal debate, it is an unacceptable technique designed to appeal to emotion rather than logic. In other words, Coburn correctly is calling out Fox News for it’s unconscionable attempts to persuade its viewers with labels and shameful lies, rather than with valid facts and reasoning.
Argument Ad Hominem is the most misused form of argumentation in American politics – and one that when elevated to irrational and vicious proportions, can lead to violence. Simply put, if you do not agree with one of my arguments, address it directly. Do not try and divert attention to my politics by attacking me personally, insinuating or saying that I am a Socialist, or a Liberal, or a lawyer. That does not make my argument any less valid, and in fact, completely invalidates your response.
In the legal arena, there is an old saying:
“If you don’t have a case, abuse the witness.”
RIGHT, FOX NEWS?
Superwoman’s Love Handles Stop a Speeding Bullet
Posted by Lance Haley in Health & Diet, Humor, Obesity, Uncategorized on February 26th, 2010
YOU GOTTA LOVE HER REASONING
Premise #1: Bullets fired from guns can kill.
Premise #2: Being overweight can stop bullets.
Conclusion: The more overweight you are, the less likely you will die from a gunshot.
Based on that line of reasoning, one obviously stupid woman concludes that it’s better to be obese than to risk being killed by a gunshot wound. The invalidity of her reasoning may astound you, but it is indicative of a deeper, more pervasive problem in this country. Resorting to logical fallacies like this in order to rationalize beliefs and/or behaviors is the primary reason why America is in so much trouble.
Although this incident may represent the extremes of poor critical thinking skills, most Americans are frequently guilty of using faulty reasoning in order to reach preconceived conclusions far more than they realize. The absence in American schools and universities of a requirement to pass a course in Introduction to Logic & Reasoning as a pre-requisite to receiving a degree prevents the general public from being able to filter out the excessive “noise” so omnipresent in our daily lives – television, talk radio, print media, the internet, etc. – that is masked as expert opinion and gospel truth.
So laugh at her logic – or lack thereof. And then honestly assess your own.
Oh, and a little advice to Ms. Frazier: the next “bolt of lighting” that hits you will likely come from a double cheeseburger.