Quote of the Day – Michael Z. Williamson(3/12/2013)

You can’t logically argue someone out of a position they didn’t logically argue themselves into.

Michael Z. WilliamsonComment to Quote of the Day – Lynda Kay Duke (3/11/2013)
March 11th, 2013


[QFMFT.

It is often not worth the time to argue, it is however worth the time to shine a light on their stupidity and ignorance.  Some may improve themselves and learn from the adventure, others may not.  It is always worth the time to present them the opportunity.  At that point they can indicate their attitude and you can just note the response for future reference.  -B]

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About TMM

TMM is the owner, editor, and principal author at The Minuteman, a competitive shooter, and staff member for Boomershoot. Even in his free time he’s merging his love and knowledge of computers and technology with his love of firearms. Many know his private name and information however due to the current political climate, many are distancing themselves due to the abandonment of Due Process.

3 Responses to Quote of the Day – Michael Z. Williamson(3/12/2013)

  1. Archer says:

    “It is often not worth the time to argue, it is however worth the time to shine a light on their stupidity and ignorance.”

    This (paired with the QOTD). This is exactly why those of us that occasionally engage with the anti-gun people on their blogs do it. It’s not try to persuade Joan Peterson or Jason Kilgore (aka Baldr Odinson) to support gun rights; it’s generally accepted that that can’t be done. It’s to encourage the fence sitters and the uninitiated – who may have arrived on those sites via a Google search – to seek information from both sides. Yes, they operate an echo chamber, and yes, “Reasoned Discourse” will often silence our words … but not always, and it’s vastly more important to try to present those “investigators” a complete picture of the issue, than it is to “win” the argument.

  2. Lyle says:

    That’s a good one; a variation on the tried and true, “You cannot reason someone out of a position he didn’t reason himself into”. I guess we could correct the grammar as something like, “You cannot reason someone out of a position that was not acquired through reason”.

    The challenge then is to sell reason, or to put it another way, it is to point out the dangers of being controlled by emotion. The old saw, “follow your heart” is fairly disastrous advice.

    I don’t know; maybe if the choice between emotion and reason were made clear we’d be getting somewhere, but then people must know the meaning of “reason”. Elements of our current culture are not strong in critical thinking skills, and so now we come back, as always, to public education. There was a time when survival and happiness were understood to be the result of independence, but now it seems we are to believe that survival and happiness are the result of government control and redistribution schemes– that life-long dependence is something to be preferred.

    On that note I’m reminded of one of my cousins, who at one stage wanted to get his knee surgically fused so he’d have an excuse to collect “disability” for the rest of his life. Only an altogether pathetic state of mind (fear, anger and hopelessness) would lead a person in that direction and yet that is the state of mind being actively promoted in certain quarters. The solution then would have to include hope. Hope (if that is the right word) might be considered an emotion, and so we come full circle I suppose.

    Are those who have some measure of hope more likely to use reason? I think that the two are inseparably linked in some way. Or is it that those who understand and apply reason are therefore more hopeful, being as they have a guide or system that brings with it further understanding, strength and consistency, an unfolding of understanding and the joy of discovery?

    And ah hah, there is another emotion – joy, and so when speaking of being guided or controlled by emotion I suppose we have to be more specific. Envy, lust, irritation, anger, hate, greed, all push you in the direction of pain, disease and destruction, and now that I think about it, compare that list to the seven deadly sins, Hmm? I may have left out gluttony, but the point is made.

    In selling the idea of being guided by reason then, we are, whether we know it or not, selling virtue, and THAT is not an easy sell in this culture. We’re just not supposed to go there. It isn’t hip. It makes people uncomfortable, as though you’re judging them. The case could be made therefore, that virtue is, very specifically, the target for destruction at the moment, and so we have to nibble around the edges, like a pack of mongoose around a snake.

    Well there’s my stream of conscienceness for the day. Carry on.

    • Archer says:

      “Are those who have some measure of hope more likely to use reason? I think that the two are inseparably linked in some way. Or is it that those who understand and apply reason are therefore more hopeful, being as they have a guide or system that brings with it further understanding, strength and consistency, an unfolding of understanding and the joy of discovery?”

      Thinking about it, I’d respond that those who understand and apply reason will realize that life-long dependency is a pretty miserable existence (assuming the government can maintain its drip-feed distribution for one’s lifetime), and that with a little bit of honest work and good decision-making, there are better ways to live. With a lot of honest work, even more so.

      A reasoning person will understand that independent living offers more choices, and more choices increases the likelihood of “good” and “rewarding” options, which in turn means a greater chance for success in the ever-present “pursuit of happiness”.

      I’ve been on public assistance. I’m not proud of it. As an independent-minded person, I felt trapped, like there were no options, and getting off the drip-feed was much harder than it should have been. Since getting off, though, money is sometimes tighter, but by God, it’s my money, and I can spend it however I want and live with the consequences. Public assistance – and dependent living in general – doesn’t give a person that flexibility and choice. My logical, reasoning mind decided long ago that, even though independent living is harder and involves more effort and work, it’s well worth it to have those choices.

      I don’t think “hope” is quite the right word, but I can’t think of a better one to describe the feeling that understanding imparts.