Reply #23: I hate this kind of reasoning [View All]

[tkmorris]

Look, I really don't want to be a jerk, but I think this form of argument is symptomatic of all that is wrong with politics in this country.

You say yourself that economics and oil issues are not your forte but you want our help to formulate an argument that proves a given conclusion, i.e. that it is Bush's fault. The last thing in the world I want to do is defend Bush, but how on earth do you "know" it's Bush's fault in the first place?

This is exactly why you can't ever prove anything to a true-blue Freeper. They KNOW everything bad in America is the fault of Clinton and the Democrats. You can utterly dismantle their arguments for why that is so but it never matters because their arguments were never based on rational analysis in the first place, just a dead certainty that they are right and we are wrong.

It's no better for us to do it than it is for them. It turns out in this case that a rational argument can easily be made to pin a large part of the fuel prices elevation squarely on the Bush administration but that isn't the point. The point is that you have reached that conclusion without any basis for doing so.

I really don't think people have a love of truth anymore. So many of us have a whole set of beliefs, things we take as a given, without any real reason for believing them except that we want them to be true. Religion is rife with people like that (although there are rare birds that actually have put some thinking into it) and trying to discuss their reasons for their beliefs is an exercise in frustration. Sports fans often engage in this behavior as well. Was that last pass complete? The Redskin fan is dead certain that it was, but the Cowboys fan is equally vehement that it was not. It isn't just friendly banter either; they really BELIEVE it.

Look around you as you drive to work in the morning. The roadways are alive with assholes, cutting in and out of traffic, not letting you on to the highway, tailgating, you name it. Everyone around them knows they are assholes, but they....... don't. They think you're the asshole.

Look ccbombs, you might feel like I really am teeing off on you here but please know that isn't my intent. It's just that after forty years of watching the evils people do to each other I have come to believe that this particular way of thinking is a big part of the reason why. People just don't think anymore. They decide what they want to believe first and then they find reasons to justify it.

Is it Bush's fault? Look at some facts, educate yourself on the issue. Make it your "forte", THEN decide. But do it objectively.