Category Archives: Philosophy

The Over Use of a Classical Logical Fallacy.

Philosophy, Politics
Orange Koolaid

Now that both the DNC and RNC are over and Labor Day is upon us we are now in the true presidential campaign season. We can now expect to see all of the classic logical fallacies, both formal and informal to be in full use. An unlike many past elections we can expect to see one party to use those logical fallacies more than the other. This is because one party, the Republican Party, has become totally addicted to them. Indeed we were not even to Labor Day and the GOP has used one of my favorite fallacies already.

I’m speaking, of course, of the fallacy known as the “False Equivalency”. This maybe the oldest of the informal logical fallacies known to man. It is certainly one we all learn to use at a very early age. It is often found keeping company with the logical impossibility of proving a negative as asking the challenger(s) to “prove that the statement is not an equivalent” is made. What needs to be done in all cases is to provide proof that the stated equivalencies does exist.

One of the reasons that the fallacy of false equivalence is so popular is that most people are never taught the difference between “equality” and ”equivalent”. This is a very hard concept to get across in programming and even harder in everyday life. Its misuse has lead to many a difficult bug to find because the code reads correctly even though it is not executed correctly. The same is true, in practice, in everyday life. It sounds right, even when it is wrong and it takes careful scrutiny of what one is saying to check it.

In the common usage equal is used to mean a kind of identity, that two things are identical twins. No one would say that twins are the same thing. But for most things saying they are ‘identical’ is ok. But in many things it is not. That is why you have to be clear as to how, when, and where you are saying two thing are identical. That they are equal. That is why we say “All men are equal before the law”; we mean they will be treated the same. And that is why false equivalency is so bad.

When you say two things are equivalent and they aren’t, you will end up in the wrong place in your reasoning. And what is worse, the people who are listening to you will will also end up in the wrong place. When they try and use the equivalencies drawn to deal with an issue they will not get the results they expect. As an example, both methanol and ethanol are alcohol but if you try to make a Hi-Ball with methanol you’ll end up blind or dead instead of just drunk.

So beware when someone says “this is the same as that” in a political speech or debate. Examine what they say carefully and be sure in your own mind that they truly are equivalent in the case given. Beware of wanting to just accept what is said because it agrees with what you think or makes you feel good. Also don’t reject someone when they say “But that is a false equivalence”. Instead of rejecting ask them to explain why they think that. They just might be right.

Covid-19 and the Republican Party

Philosophy, Politics, ,
The GOP elephant is on his deathbed.

After the first full day of the R/TNC (Republican/Trumpian National Convention) I think it is time to talk about the Elephant in the ICU room. The GOP is now on life support caused not only by the Covid-19 Pandemic but also by its pre-existing morbid condition(s), of which selecting Donald J Trump as its “Leader” is just one symptom. And just what symptoms am I talking about? Well let’s just start with the latest and work backwards.

Monday, the first day of the R/TNC, instead of having the Nomination of Trump as their candidate and the ‘roll call of the states’ to elect him, the R/TNC did it in the middle of the day. They also passed what they, the R/TNC called their “platform” which just said “What ever Donald Wants, Donald Gets” (With apologies to “Damn Yankees”) until 2024. To my knowledge this is the first time a major American political party has ever not had a platform. So what does this mean for the “Old” GOP?

Just this, what we saw last night in prime time is what the R/TNC wants every Republican candidate to run on. You get to pick your speech and run on that. You get to run on hate, or you can run on fear, or you can run on “Those Were the Good Old Days” (again with apologies to “Damn Yankees”) or you can run on any combination you wish. You will probably be able to run on anything that comes up for the next three days as long as you throw in “Trump” every now and then. The one thing you will not be able to do is run on anything that used to be core Republican principles. Those are things are of the past and not allowed in the GTP (Grand Trump Party).

There is one other thing you will not be allowed to run on, the new guiding principle of the GTP. You can’t mention that it is all about one thing . “POWER”. Who has it. Who doesn’t have it. Using it as you will, without any restraint. As once was written by George Orwell “The purpose of Power is Power”. An yes I’m talking about “1984” but what most people forget is Orwell was an anti-communist Socialist, as strange as that might seem in this day and age. What most people don’t know is that an unrestrained authoritarian state is the same whether it calls itself “Communist” or “Fascist”. An what MAGA is selling is an authoritarian state dressed up in “Free” enterprise lipstick.

And now here we are on Thursday waiting for the closing act. It is as a shame that the R/TNC doesn’t seem to have a director like Leni Riefenstahl to create a masterful production like “Triumph of the Will“. Instead we have gotten something more like a four day “infomercial”. An once again we see what the dreadful effect of abandoning their principles has had on the Republican Party. I cannot think of any single speaker who was able to sound a hopeful Theme. The GOP media masters seem to not have studied what is considered by those who study propaganda to be one of the greatest works of the art.

So just remember this the current Republican Party has only hate, fear, and loathing to campaign on, not a principle one.

A Dark Thought Experiment

Philosophy, Politics, ,

This is going to be both a Dark and Brutally logical thought experiment. You have been warned.

This is just an experiment. It is not a prediction of what will be, nor even really possible to be. Only what could be. What we will be dealing with is just one possible scenario if Donald J. Trump looses in November 2020. An while this is not a prediction of the future it is as an honest “Threat Assessment“ I can formulate, given the past four years and the actions of both the Trump Administration, MAGA, and the current GOP leadership.

First some postulates:

  1. Trump looses the election with the popular and electoral college
  2. The election in the House and Senate while large is not the “Blue Tsunami”
  3. That the actions in ‘Red” States to minimize election turn out results in incredibly long lines and/or waiting times that leads to many “incidents”.
  4. The GOP/MAGA brings numerous court battles challenging the results in key “swing” states that last till early January 2021
  5. Trump is able to either use the un-identified currently mobilized to put down the protests in several Blue cities like Portland Oregon to “protect” the White House before the inauguration.

Given the above postulates it is quite possible that Donald J. Trump just might refuse to accept the election results and refuses to leave the White House. The question is if the Federal Government would accept his position. Would the current AG leave office or would AG Barr attempt to stay in office and protect Trump. What about the acting heads of DHS and/or the FBI? What would they do? What could they do legally? What could be done against them if they try to stay in office past 20 January 2021?

Finally, just to add a little spice to the mix, where will the nuclear “Football” be in January 2021? If it is still in the West Wing what will the person caring it do? What will be his/her orders from the Pentagon dealing with Trump refusing to leave office?

Could we be on the way to a new Civil War?

Love to hear your ideas so please share.

The Time has Come

General, Philosophy, Politics, , , , ,

The time has come,’ the Walrus said,
      To talk of many things:
Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —
      Of cabbages — and kings —
And why the sea is boiling hot —
      And whether pigs have wings.’

Over the past few weeks I have been feeling more and more like I have both “fallen down the rabbit hole” and gone “Thru the Looking Glass” at the same time. It is mostly because of the rampant insanity I’m seeing around me. In the middle of the greatest pandemic in a hundred years we have both people who should know better telling us it is:

  1. All a hoax
  2. It will be over “Real Soon Now”
  3. 100,000+ death are acceptable
  4. Trust me, not the scientists, I know better
  5. It’s all a plot to defeat Donald Trump’s re-election

The above is not an exhaustive list, just what I can remember right now. But beyond the above I’ve started to hear people not on the far left, more like the middle left, thinking the unthinkable. That the GOP, the MAGAs, and Donald Trump will use the pandemic to suppress enough voter turn out. To delay the vote count due to record number of mail-in ballots. To challenge the election results when and if Trump looses both the popular and elector votes.

I am not going to be a miss Pollyanna here. I am going to try to just point out that unlike the little oysters we need to listen to the wise ones and not follow the Walrus and the Carpenter, lest we be eaten.

Coming Next: A dark Thought Experiment or Two

Senate in Wonderland

Philosophy, Politics, , , ,
Knave of Harts Trial

Today is the start of the Senate Trial of the Impeachment of Donald John Trump, President of the United States. An the American people have fallen down the rabbit hole into the trial of the Knave of Harts where we have the Verdict first then the trial. I say this because of the trail rules initially proposed by the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last night. With some thought and consideration given to quick mods made just before things got started.

Like Alice I expect most Americans who follow the Trial will be quite perplexed by what they see and hear. First because the Senate method of operations is often arcane in the extreme. This is especially true when many of the Senators are worried about their electorate and just what they will think. It is a grand old Senate tradition obfuscate in hope the people back home will not notice what just happened. The rules for the trial, as they currently stand, go a good way towards this goal. An just like Alice the American people just get to watch and wonder.

I do not envy Senator McConnell the job he is facing. He has to, first, keep Pres. Trump happy/pleased. If he doesn’t there is no telling what Pres. Trump might do but a roaring tirade is not off the table. Next he must insure that Pres. Trump is not only not convicted by 67 votes but that it is done in such away that Pres. Trump can say he was 1) exonerated and 2) found innocent. All the time making the trial look fair and honest. The one thing the GOP does not need is to go into the election year tarred with a trial seen as rigged and/or unfair. When you start a trial with the verdict already decided by the jury it is often quite hard to look fair, even when it is.

I wait with baited breath to see how this plays out.

The Orange KoolAid

Philosophy, Politics,
Orange Koolaid

I thought I’d end this year and start the new with a two parter on Drinking the KoolAid. I’m going to start with what I mean by “Drinking The KoolAid”. So lets get the good old “Way Back Machine” up and running (Mine looks like a big blue box and, yes, it is bigger on the inside than the outside) and look back.

Here, in this blog, “Drinking the KoolAid” means to accept what you are told by your leaders no mater how irrational, illogical, and/or unpredictabled it is as long as it supports what you want to believe. As I told someone the other day “It is just taking Confirmation Bias to it’s logical extream. That you will accept as fact, with out any critical examination, anything that supports what you want to believe. To take any challenge to these ‘facts’ as a personal attack and justification to counter attack anyone who says the facts are false.”

It is not my purpose to explain why people “Drink the KoolAid”. Beyond that understanding need to counter it. I have this past year struggled to come to grips with what I’m now calling “The Orange KoolAid”. This is my phrase for the universe of “AltFacts” created by the supporters of Donald J Trump who know exactly what they are doing and why. It is not those who mix up thief own colors of the KoolAid for their own reasons. This is the KoolAid color for those who would fit right in with Geo. Orwell’s 1984 Inner Party. Those persons who love not just having Power but love being able to perniciously apply that power when and where they wish.

I am also talking about those people who are willfully don’t seeing the problem facing us in the coming decade. The issue is not just ‘The Orange KoolAid” but also the new system(s) for serving it up to the people. I’m taking about those people who see any attempt to keep the KoolAid out of they system as an unexceptionable threat to some Cherished right. An because they have not studied logic or have forgotten what they have studied they don’t recognize the ‘Slippery Slope’ fallacy. These are not ignorant or stupid people. Some are the most successful people in this country. But they are also the most willfully blind.

These are just some of the problems I’ve tried to address this past year. Sometimes successful sometime not. Sometimes I’ve been correct, sometime I’ve been flat wrong. I hope that when I’ve been wrong I have acknowledged my error and corrected myself here. But in recognition of my being human I’m accepting I may not have gotten them all. In the coming year I am accepting the challenge of the “Flood of Orange KoolAid” coming our way I will be looking for all of the illogic, misusing of logic, and logical fallacies coming our way. I will try to point out on all sides of the issue but given the color of the KoolAid Flood I expect most of the sources will be on the Donald J Trump side of the isle.

Republicans, the party of Golf Cheats?

Philosophy, Politics, , ,
Donald Trump Golfing

I am about to make a lot of conservatives upset but I remind you all that you do not need to be a member of the MAGA GOP. The choice is yours to go or stay.

With the clear statement by Sen. McConnell that he will ensure a quick trial and acquittal of President Trump in January of next year I feel it is safe to draw some conclusions about the Republican Party in the coming years. First it is the party of Golf Cheats. By that I mean they welcome with open arms people who will do what ever is necessary to win no mater what they are doing. That being seen to win is that is important, even when everyone knows and is aware they cheated to win.

Next we can say it is the party of people who see the sole purpose of power is the arbitrary use of power (see 1984 Clip). These are also people who have, in the past complained most vociferously about the left having ‘relativistic morality’ but see nothing wrong with apply one standard to themselves and another standard to everyone else. They can do this because in reality the only moral standard they have is ‘Did I win?’ Given this standard it is easy to see why the Senate GOP will move so quickly and in unison to do what ever Donald Trump needs to stay in power.

We have been seeing this coming for the past 40+ years with the movement of southern conservatives from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party and the movement of liberal Republicans to the Democrat Party. With the introduction of RINO to the GOP lexicon and then their removal from the party. We have seen it in the rise of open voter suppression where ever the GOP has gained complete control of the State House. An we have seen it in the total acceptance by the GOP of gerrymandering of congressional districts.

So if you accept the ideal of “Wining isn’t everything, it is the only thing.” If you see believe in the arbitrary use of power for the sole benefit of the Wielder of the power. If you know you are always the victim and it is always ‘those people’ who are responsible for you sad state. Then the Republican Party is for you. Just be sure to latch yourself to the most powerful Patron you can because you have just become minion.

The Time is Coming

Philosophy, Politics, ,
MAGA

The time is coming when America will find out who are the Conservatives and who are the MAGA. MAGA? I hear you say. ‘Isn’t’ that just short for “Make America Great Again”? Well, yes it started out that way but I am now using it just the way the world used Nazi in the 1930’s. (Note: the term Nazi was never used in Germany till after the war.) It denotes a political ideology and it’s followers. It also denotes the members of a political ‘cult’. In this case I’m using it to denote the supporters/followers of Donald J. Trump. It doesn’t not mean Republicans nor conservatives. Although if things keep going the way it is MAGA may become synonymous with Republicans.

I expect that by this time next year Conservatives will have to face the bitter truth of just what has become of the Republican Party in the hands of MAGA. I expect to see a great housecleaning of the party by the conservatives. Of course I could be wrong and while there can be many many paths to follow after the 2020 election I think there are only three with high probability. The first, as I indicated, is a great Blue Wave across the nation and the conservatives will have to pick up the pieces of the shattered Republican Party. It will not be easy.

The Issue facing the conservatives still in the Republican Party currently dominated by MAGA is simply put “Where are the Conservatives, here?” Students of the history of the USSR will recognize where I got my inspiration from. But it is still true. It is a question that needs to be asked now and then in any political movement if it is not to succumb to those who will corrupt it. This is the issue now facing the Republicans, MAGA has no philosophical ideology. MAGA is all about the power and the money.

The MAGA leaders can and will do anything for the power. An MAGA like good cultist will believe it. An why they will believe it is because they want to. To not believe would force them to look at world as it is, not as they wish it to be. Let me be very clear now. MAGA is not conservative, it is not liberal, nor is it Fascist, not is it Communist. It is about power and the promise of power. It is about “I get to do what I want to do because I’m powerful.”

Don’t believe me then just look at the way MAGAs act. Not just the politicians, but the everyday Joe MAGA. You just might be surprise.

And Pound on the Table

Philosophy, Politics, , ,
Donald J Trump

With less than 24 hours to go before the first open testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on possible impeachment of Pres. Donald J. Trump I will take some time to point out what is obvious to any with eyes to see. Unfortunately in this new Partisan age I fear there are few eyes willing to see. Anyone who has even the most cursory acquaintance with how Donald Trump has dealt with being on the loosing end of a legal battle recognizes the current tactics he and his are employing.

When it becomes obvious to him that he will loose his case, Donald Trump attempts to do one of two things. If he can, he settles out of court, failing that he goes to cut a deal. Just like he did with the his Trump Foundation fraud case. It is a given that with impeachment there is no settling out of court as this is not a civil case. Therefore he is now maneuvering his assets to enable him to cut a deal with the American electorate.

First and foremost he is trying to “run the clock out” by putting everything off as long as possible. This is why, more than anything, he has ‘ordered’ everyone involved to not testify and to fight all subpoenas in court. Ideally he want’s the House to go to the DOJ, as has been the way for almost 100 years, to get it’s subpoenas enforced. With the current AG this is a total non-starter and could waste years if work correctly. Unfortunately the House leadership was on to this tactic and has chosen to just add the refusal to honor the subpoenas as just one more count to the “Obstruction of Congress/Justice” charge in impeachment. A small thing granted, but not insignificant.

The next tactic is to obfuscate the issues. So far, it is change use of change the subject and admit the act but deny the criminality. And finally we are now seeing the use of ‘Not me, they did it.’ All of these are being mixed together into a Goulash of epic proportions. We have yet to see just what effect this will have. This Goulash has two goals. The first is to give the Republicans in the House talking points that have some semblance of respectability. This they dearly need at this time. How do we know this, simply because they keep changing their objections to what the House Committee is doing. Until last week it was all about transparency and procedures. Now that both the depositions are being made public and the public hearing scheduled they are complaining about the rules of the hearing trusting that the average voter will neither know of care that the Committee is using the rules crafted under Republican leadership. (Personally I thank it is crass of the Democrats to use the rules that the Republicans crafted. Don’t they know it is just not done? The principle is I get to use ‘These rule and you get to use those rules’. Really now, how low can you go?)

The goal here is two fold. First is to take so long in actually passing the Impeachment in the House that the Senate Trial will not start until spring of 2020 or later. Then Trump and the Senate can say “Let the people decide.” Failing that, and so far it is looking like it is failing, have enough fog and smoke that the Republican Senators who are up for re-election in 2020 have some effective cover when they vote for acquittal. So far this looks to be on track. After all the last thing the Republicans need is a ‘smoking gun’ like what took out Pres. Nixon.

On this last point I have little hope for anything happening like what took out Nixon. This is not the 1970’s and the Republican Party of 2020 is not the Republican Party of 1970’s. I see no Howard “Henry” Baker, nor Barry Goldwater in this Senate. At this time we need people, in all parties, who can stand above Partisanship and put the Country and Constitution first. But maybe they are there in the Senate they will stand up and be counted. I hope and pray it is so.

Libertarianism & Me, Part II

General, Philosophy,
MrPooter Image
The Richest Man in Bedford Falls Owner of half of the town

One of the great pieces of poor logic of the rightist libertarian philosophy is it’s relationship with government power. To put it in it’s simplest form, they seem to want the government not to interfere with anything they are doing, or want to do, but they do want it to keep others from doing things they don’t want done. One of the first examples of this occurred to me in a conversation with a door-to-door canvaser for the American Libertarian Party about 30 years ago. I asked her just what the Party would do for me if they were elected and she told me they would get rid of zoning laws.

Intrigued I asked her just what that would do for me and she cheerfully responded that with out all those bothersome zoning laws I would be able to do anything I wanted with my property. Anything I asked, anything she said. Even starting my own in home business? She brighten even more and said yes, that is exactly what they were after. How about my own fireworks factory? She looked a bit troubled but nodded yes. Even though fireworks can not be sold in L.A. City? She asked if I would sell them out of my home and I said no, I’d transport them to where it was legal to sell. I smiled and said this sounds great as I have a storm drain just one house over where I can dispose of all the chemical wast I produce and if it explodes or catches fire I’ll wont need to worry about my home exploding. At this point she decided to move on to the next house.

The point here is she had no real idea of just what the zoning laws did, she just knew that they kept people from doing what they wanted to do and therefore were ‘bad’. Like most people, myself included, she had not given much thought to the why and wherefore of the laws. This is not a characteristic isolated to Libertarians, this is an all too human characteristic. It is why we have had leaders and wise men and women to take counsel together and make rules to live by. We trust them to consider the effects, the consequences, of actions of the group and not do things that will hurt more than they help. Sometimes they fail, rarely they fail spectacularly and we do suffer greatly.

A here is the problem faced by the Libertarian philosophy, it is just a collection of very simple maxims. The number and composition of the collection of maxims changes from time to time and wither it is right or left based but all in all it is a nice set. But that is the problem. They are simple in form but we now have to come up with rules on how to actually apply the maxims in real life. With real situations involving real people. Now things get complicated. If for no other reason you are going to have to deal with people who don’t like the maxims or want to use them in ways to their own advantage and not in the way intended.

Next time: Libertarianism and the Logical extreme.