In the unprecedented assault on science and logical thinking afflicting the U.S., the role of lies has been recognized, if not adequately, by the general media. Almost totally ignored, however, are the logical fallacies perpetrating ideological nonsense. Christian fundamentalists and Republican plutocrats have formed our first religiously based national political party, dedicated to lower taxes on the rich and imposition of a superstitious dictatorship by the busybodies. Led by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, the worlds highest paid professional liar, the enemies of science and reason have deliberately accelerated the dumbing of America. Republican presidential candidates must reject climate science, and they cant unequivocally endorse the Theory of Evolution (which Theodore Roosevelt did 135 years ago).
Enforced by determined Tea Party zealots, this process suppresses fact, endlessly repeats lies, and, more importantly, ignores logic. Every fallacy in the logic textbooks, buttressed by politically originated fallacies, is exploited to the fullest extent. These fallacies include the slippery slope, straw men, red herrings, reversing the burden of proof, vicious circles, language perversion, and single-entry bookkeeping, all united in rejection of science and perpetuation of free-lunch patriotism, supply-side economics, and other false ideologies.
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C.W. Griffin is a retired consulting engineer, currently free-lance writer, author of 10 predominantly technical books, but also general books –– notably TAMING THE LAST FRONTIER (on the 1970s’ urban crisis) and CLEANING OUT CONGRESS: THE CASE FOR REFORM. His articles have appeared in Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, Washington Post, The Nation, The Progressive, The Reporter, and Saturday Review.
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