Reason and logic have fled. They don’t live here anymore and I think it would be wisest for me to follow them, too, now.
Every day I hear arguments from rightwingers that defy sense. I used to think I was dealing with reactionaries who wanted to return to the 1950s. Then I realized they wanted to undo all of the New Deal and the Progressive Era, too. But they want to go farther back than that to the 1840s when the South was arguing against the power of the federal government. In fact, I can say I’ve heard rightwingers calling for a return to the original Constitution of 1787.
That was just the beginning for me. Now I’m convinced that rightwingers want to take us back, all the way back, to the Dark Ages, and I’m told there’s a book on the subject, though I haven’t read it. I came to my conclusion because the logic and reason that was codified by the Romans is being dismantled and discarded. After the Roman Empire declined, the wisdom of their era was obscured and even lost during the Dark Ages, until what they knew took hold and re-established itself again.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc. After this, then because of this. It’s a logic fallacy and conservative Republicans argue it every day. In their world, the rooster’s crowing does make the sun come up. Just like it did in the Dark Ages.
Onus Probandi. The burden of proof. It’s one of the foundations of our legal system, but just an inconvenient obstacle for rightwingers.
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