Tag: reason

Interesting times for the reasonable person

TUESDAY, 1 MARCH 2022

What if it turned out a conspiracy theory was right? And this applies to conspiracy theories in 1500, 1900, 2000 and in March 2022.

It would mean the lone intellectual, or the minority group of thinkers, were maligned, mistreated, their careers destroyed, and in earlier times possibly tortured and killed by a majority of community leaders, politicians, and intellectuals supporting the established narrative.

It would mean the lone intellectual, who stood up for what he believed in – who literally stood up when everyone else remained mum and seated, who expressed his unpopular opinion at the inconvenience of the powerful majority, was crushed – even though it turned out they were wrong, and he was right.

How do we know in March 2022, what with Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the cesspool that is US politics, that the so-called conspiracy theorist isn’t actually right, and the establishment with their fingers at the controls of politics, traditional mass media, social media, academia, and mass entertainment wrong? How can you know unless debate and intellectual curiosity and the free exchange of ideas and opinions unhindered by political correctness and pre-approved ideology are allowed to continue?

Here’s one test: Who is suppressing free speech? Who is maligning scientists, bloggers, podcast hosts and thinkers and journalists who dare speak outside approved narratives?

I know, I know. The phrases “establishment”, “approved narratives”, “political correctness”, and “free speech” already give me an odour of the conspiracy theorist, right?

I thought earlier today that these seem to be interesting times for reasonable and reasonably intelligent non-conformists. But we all conform to rules and regulations in everyday life – I mean, do you speed through every red light? Maybe it’s more appropriate to say these times are shaping up to be interesting for anyone who considers themselves reasonable, and reasonably intelligent.

Then again, isn’t that how we all think of ourselves?

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One of the things wrong with the world

THURSDAY, 17 FEBRUARY 2022

At one point, there were people who were properly and correctly informed on a topic, and who could make a logical argument to prove they were on the right, or reasonable, side of the matter, and there were people who were wrong and uninformed about the matter, and who would resort to ad hominem attacks to conceal their incapability of making a logical, reasonable argument.

In response to the absurd, uninformed statements that one side would make, the informed, reasonable side would sometimes shake their heads, plant their faces into their palms, and say things like, “These people will believe anything.”

Then a terrible thing happened: The uninformed people, who could not make a logical argument to defend their position, began to imitate the reactions and behaviour of the informed, reasonable people. When an informed, reasonable person now substantiates facts and sets out a logical argument, the uninformed, unreasonable person also shakes his head, and occasionally plants his face in the palm of his hand. And, like a parrot who does not really understand the sounds he utters, he too will sometimes say, “These people will believe anything.”

Saturday, 26 February 2022

Then there’s this:

Person A presents a comprehensive, sensible argument with maps, graphs, verifiable facts, dates, confirmable direct quotes.

Person B: “This is propaganda! You’re clearly a puppet of [the enemy leader]! A shill! A useful idiot! Ha-ha! Don’t tell me you still believe that story! Ha-ha! These people will believe anything …”

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