Answering Absurdities



     Often, the enemies of liberty can see the obvious flaws in their absurd arguments. Sometimes, their line of reasoning is so absurd they cannot even pronounce it, so they will offer part of it, in such a way as to convey the expectation that you know the rest and accept it as conventional wisdom.

     If a man is older than his girlfriend’s father, either of these men might shout at the other, “Mister, she’s eighteen years old.” They agree on the fact while disagreeing on the conclusion to draw from it.

     The same thing is happening when enemies of liberty say, “The United States Supreme Court upheld that statute.” as if that settled a matter.

     When that happens I might say, “Please explain why you agree with that ruling.” They are stunned at the very idea that they have a choice.

     Often, the enemies of liberty use absurd arguments because good, sound, logical reasoning does not support their position, so rather than abandon their incorrect position, they must depend heavily on bad reasoning. They refrain from pointing out the obvious flaws in each other’s lines of reasoning, and this emboldens them to offer the same absurd arguments to us. Never let their ability to offer a line of reasoning with a straight face tempt you to overlook the flaw in the reasoning.

     

Change the laws



     What are we supposed to do, clone ourselves so we can be more numerous on election day than all the crazy people? Don’t blame slavery on the abolitionists.

     

You never served your country.



     As an anti-war activist I often heard this and had trouble figuring out what G.I. Joe was trying to say. Are child molesters the only ones qualified to judge child molesters? Why should I participate in the unjust war I am protesting?

     What G.I. Joe is trying to say is this: He dropped Napalm on children in Viet Nam, and that means he is better than you, and so are his opinions, and he is entitled to call the shots and you are not.

     George Washington was given a powerful government job as a reward for his work during the Revolutionary War, and because of the respect he earned as commander. That makes sense. Many veterans are trying to cope with all the abuse they endured, by making believe it makes them superior to everybody else. It is easier to pretend if everybody else pretends with them, so they expect all of us to pretend with them, and often react angrily when we will not.

     It is true that the average veteran knows more about the laws of land combat and the difference between collateral damage and war crimes than the average protester, but this does not mean that the protester is wrong to protest the war in Iraq, which, let’s face it, was started so Vice President Cheney’s friends at Halliburton could make money off the oil.

     

Love it or leave it.



     One of the favorites of the enemies of liberty, they ignore:

     1.) Here’s a better idea: The United States of America could become a free country, with liberty and justice for all.

     2.) The only ones who are free to leave the country are the ones who can get permission from the bureaucrats of a foreign country to move there. Dual citizens automatically can move to the other country, but many other people are unable to obtain permission. One reason is that they have a criminal conviction because of a blatantly unjust law, or because a cop lied in court, or both. The other country’s bureaucrats see the conviction and deny permission.

     

Other fallacies



     Personal attacks: Unable to find any flaw in the line of reasoning that proves the Pythagorean Theorem, they seek to find fault with Pythagoras, which is absurd reasoning because the line of reasoning is independent of any person. Unable to find fault with Pythagoras, they often make something up.

     Argumentum ad numerum: This is a logical fallacy which holds that if the vast majority believes something, it must be true. One reason so many people profess to believe all the conventional nonsense is because they are afraid of being ridiculed, marginalized and even locked up and drugged if they do not.

     The action verb fallacy: It is somehow your job to they-do-something. If it is your job to win elections, then it is somehow your job to they-vote-for-you, and you must not force them, and they refuse.

     Of course, if we are stupid enough to fall for this, they always win.

     If orthodox libertarian extremists are unable to convince more voters, it is because most voters refuse to shut off their crazy switch. They refuse to become reasonable. Convince is an action verb that requires the co-operation of the direct object. Legislators did not defeat their opponents, the voters who elected them did. The same is true with court cases. If you lose in court, it does not mean there was any flaw in your legal arguments. More often, the so-called justices chose to vomit forth another manifestation of malicious judicial perfidity.

     The possessive adjective fallacy: Picture a 14-year-old girl who screams wildly because she does not get her way, and then she pulls a knife on her step-father. This sounds like a spoiled brat, right? When I explain that the step-father was trying to rape her, and she reacted this way, now she sounds much more reasonable. It helps to know what “her way” is. Orthodox libertarian extremists run into this because the enemies of liberty don’t want to admit that good, sound, logical reasoning proves that our way is also the correct way.

     One part of this fallacy is when the enemies of liberty claim, “That’s just YOUR opinion!” and ignore the solid line of good, sound reasoning that clearly proves our opinion is correct. To call it your opinion is to demote the correct opinion down to the level of all other opinions, as if all opinions were equally valid.

     With religious opinions, there is truth to this. Is it a sin to eat pork? Is it a sin to eat meat on Friday? Is it a transgression to drink coffee? Maybe we will all find out on Judgment Day, but until then, all of those opinions are equally valid. With other opinions, it makes no difference how intensely somebody holds the opinion. What matters is whether the opinion is correct or not.

     Enemies of liberty have often accused me of being no better than Hitler, who put his opinions above the opinions of the masses. I put my correct opinions above the opinions of the masses. These are very different opinions, and therein lies the big difference. All opinions are not equally valid. We all know how Hitler was not exactly championing the cause of liberty and justice for all.

     Since religious opinions are equally valid, what about the often-cited God-given rights? Isn’t it a religious opinion that liberty is a God-given right?

     Yes, it is a religious opinion, much as it is a religious opinion that God makes the tide rise at Hampton Beach. Some people think that a godless Nature makes the tide rise. Luckily for us, it is totally irrelevant whether God or Nature makes the tide rise, because we can plainly see that, either way, the tide does rise; and it is irrelevant whether liberty is a God-given right or a Natural right, because, either way it is an unalienable right, which no government can justly infringe.

     

Collectivism



     Enemies of liberty are quick to allege, “The people overwhelmingly support that law!”

     To that I reply, “No, I do not!” Always remember what your geometry teacher said: For a statement to be true, it must be true for all cases. They may be so used to lying, they forgot how to speak the truth: The overwhelming majority of people support that law. That is no excuse to violate the unalienable rights of everybody else.

     Enemies of liberty have argued that statistical analysis of historical crash data proves that the government should commit a hate crime against innocent, responsible alcohol drinkers who are younger than 21. Truth is, each person is a distinct individual and a distinct transaction, except for organized forces on a mission.

     Not only the exact same enemy pilots who dropped the bombs on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, but all of the armed forces of the hostile government are the enemy, for the duration of the hostilities.

     Not only the exact same enemy officers who threw the flash grenade into Bounkham Phonesavanh’s playpen on 28 May 2014, but all of the police forces of the hostile government are the enemy until the inevitable ultimate triumph of Operation U.S.A. Freedom. They are all on a mission to intimidate innocent persons into obeying the unjust laws of an unjust government. (Deter means intimidate.)

HOME PAGE