Entries tagged with “Logic” from Chilling Words
I struggle. I struggle with my alter-ego, an alter-ego that often creates enemies especially when he is right. I can often turn into “Logic Man” fighting against irrational thought and bad logic. This can quickly alienate me; no one likes to be corrected. Since I am not on a debate team I don't really have a license to go around correcting people and challenging them to a mental duel (though that would make for an interesting society would it not?). I wish I had a Logic Bit I could flip, or a scalar variable I could use to adjust my sensitivity, to prevent me from enabling Logic Man when he is not wanted or needed (though he is almost never wanted and usually always needed). The part I struggle with is finding those times where I must placate Logic Man and keep him in his cage (if you can call free-range of my mind a cage). Instead of asking, “When is it appropriate to correct their logic?” I have to ask, “When is not appropriate . . .” else I will continue to put my thoughts where they may not be welcome.
So here I sit, pondering on commenting on a random blog, correcting a faulty piece of logic, wondering if it is even worth it. The faulty point is eclipsed by larger issues, and really the problem is the point is a non-point. Oh the dilemma. I would really love to let Logic Man loose upon the Internet, but I must refrain . . . for now.
I am beside myself in wonder. I do not understand how so many people fail at presenting an argument and carrying on a debate. I am baffled at how many people fail to grasp logic, either to see how it's being used, misused, or ignored, or in using it on their own end. This is not about the current presidential campaign, though I am encountering it with greater frequency, because I have had this happen to me more times than I can count! In fact, I would have an easier time counting the number of times I had a debate with someone who accurately used logic, and could follow (and criticize) the logic being employed. More times than not the debates I have entered into with people quickly degenerate into some form of name calling (I'm usually the one being called names) at which point I quit the debate and wonder if my relationship with the other party has been irreparably damaged.
How did this happen? How have we, as a society, failed to grasp the basic tenets of logic, of progression, of deduction? Why is the syllogism so difficult to grasp and use? Seriously, I do not understand how people are easily duped into believing information that is obviously suspect. I stand around with my jaw agape (usually not literally) at how people can believe a conclusion without the premise and the supporting evidence. Is this a problem of our educational system? Is this a genetic problem? Is it a lack of maturity? Will we just stop allowing people to finish their speeches when they do this? It would make my life so much more enjoyable.
Nothing gets my blood boiling faster and fiercer than people who disabuse logic.
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