Monday, September 3, 2012
The Anatomy of Intellectual Dishonesty
a) An inconsistent application of moral principles.......b) The playing with of language in order to win an argument.......c) Twisting/misrepresenting and/or omitting/cherry-picking evidence in an effort to buttress one's viewpoint.......d) No concessions, ever (a dogmatism that borders on paranoia) .......e) An extreme paucity of critical thinking.......f) A delusional belief that the other side is always wrong and that your side is always right.......g) A total lack of respect for the other side.......h) A penchant for hyperbole and imbecilic extrapolation (always inflammatory, never nuanced).......i) An incapacity/unwillingness to comprehend the limits of human understanding.......j) The discounting of evidence that a vast percentage of sane individuals would clearly accept (the National Journal's conservative and liberal ratings, for example).
Yep.
ReplyDelete"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
-Daniel Patrick Moynihan
“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. Men willingly believe what they wish.”
-Julius Caesar
and a fruitful area for further study .
If the opinion is non-factual, I will only reluctantly begrudge them that.
ReplyDeletePatrick Moynihan? Now there was a fellow who was willing to work across the aisle. I liked him and I liked Howard Baker on the other side.
ReplyDelete