An Epidemic of Untreatable Illogic

[nhboy (Premo)]

Link to original article.

"One of my favorite diseases—and I say favorite because it has a great moral associated with its diagnosis—is an old, discredited but useful look at how the views of power filtered down to popular medicine, a disease named drapetomonia. Ever hear of it? It was one of the first illnesses to have a very clear ethnic identity—it only affected blacks. It was also one of the first specific mental health diagnoses. Declared an epidemic among its target population, shortly after being discovered by a Georgian physician in 1851, its treatment protocols involved harsh whippings and restraints in chains.

Today, it is one of the few discredited diseases reemerging as one of the false equivalencies that increasingly characterize American views of politics–and global warming, evolution, education, economic growth, race, and religion. I see a new strain of the disease emerging, and clearly we have no cure, or even treatment or care for it."

.....

"So, too, today, in the new, unnamed strain is the double circle of logic whose answers assume the truth of its assertions. My favorite example this week was a radio interview with Virginia’s Attorney General, whose radio host pointed out that the President did not win the red states where a photo ID law was in place or early voting was drastically restricted, and the wins and loses of those states alone were sufficient to point to clear evidence of a pattern of widespread Democratic fraud being rampant throughout the country.

Well, Barack Obama didn’t win those same red states last time either, in 2008, before restrictions of early voting or photo ID laws were enacted. And he won all of the states he won before, without a single reputable complaint of fraud, except in the mouths of talk show hosts and elected officials whose delusions are a double circle."

.....

"But nowhere has the new strain of drapetomonia been more present then in the Congress, especially among three Republican senators engaged in foreign policy reviews and oversight. One of the symptoms of the new strain is a phastasmorgia (my favorite grad school word!) of forgetfulness. These senators seem to have completely forgotten that Colin Powell was once sent on a mission to the UN to inform the world of non-existent weapons of mass destruction as the justification for launching a war. Yet appearances on talk shows that protected classified information about four American deaths are more “significantly troubling” than the petitions to secede from the US, a position clarified after another lengthy, unnecessary war, and somehow overweigh the peace so quickly brought to Gaza.

Well, I, too, am significantly troubled. An old favorite, drapetomonia, has returned. In a new form, more virulent. And given its new patterns of delusions, its rapid spread, the intractable, untreatable illogic of its phastasmagoric double circles that lock out all other views, it should be taken more seriously. It is more dangerous since it enlarges its formerly defective worldview. But we can wipe out the new strain by making the next election a prevention campaign."

[SamSpade]

I guess I need not list the considerable number of Democrats who also went on record decrying the WMD's that Saddam had.

Somehow, only Colin Powell was mentioned.

I guess another case of drapetomonia - except on the part of the writer.

[thatguy]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

I guess I need not list the considerable number of Democrats who also went on record decrying the WMD's that Saddam had.

Somehow, only Colin Powell was mentioned.

I guess another case of drapetomonia - except on the part of the writer.

but where did they (senators and congressmen) get the intel that said there were WMD in the first place?

[edinsomd]

Originally Posted by thatguy

but where did they (senators and congressmen) get the intel that said there were WMD in the first place?

Just about every intelligence service in the free world.

[thatguy]

Originally Posted by edinsomd

Just about every intelligence service in the free world.

I dont know about every one in the free world, but our intel agencies were certainly the source for the info our senators and reps got.

[edinsomd]

Originally Posted by thatguy

I dont know about every one in the free world, but our intel agencies were certainly the source for the info our senators and reps got.

So you admit you're talking out your a$$. Cool.

[thatguy]

Wirelessly posted

Originally Posted by edinsomd

So you admit you're talking out your a$$. Cool.

No, I am actually questioning wether or not you are. Cool

[Gilligan (Premo)]

Originally Posted by edinsomd

Just about every intelligence service in the free world.

That. In fact, we were "behind the curve" and relying heavily on the intelligence provided by other countries.

But those old facts don't matter now. That war is over. Not sure who won...

[thatguy]

Wirelessly posted

Originally Posted by Gilligan

That. In fact, we were "behind the curve" and relying heavily on the intelligence provided by other countries.

But those old facts don't matter now. That war is over. Not sure who won...

Behind the curve in believing something that turned out to not be true? Well it's a good thing we were ahead of the curve on that whole going to war thing

[GURPS (Premo)]

An Epidemic of Untreatable Logic




isn't that Liberalism