No True Scotsmen: The moving goal post fallacy

Mel: All Scotsmen love Haggis
Ethan: My uncle doesn't like Haggis, and he is Scottish
Mel: Well, all true Scotsmen love Haggis

The problem in our politically correct world is the infatuation with this kind of thinking. When the term of dispute can be redefined in an ad-hoc manner, then we might as well be standing on political and ethical quick sand. When a Muslim terrorist says 'I want to blow up the airplane because Allah commands it', I tend to believe him. Liberals will tell us that he is confused, his theology is unrefined, he is not a true 'Scotsman'. They will tell us that the Islamist extremist concerns are political in nature, not religious, and that if he just had some of the nice things that we in the West have he wouldn't be so upset. I smell bullshit... I can think of only one human-created method of thought that allows for the existence pious hatred like we see in Muslim terrorists: faith. Yet we are called intolerant bigots for denouncing faith, by both the conservatives (who are faithful) and the liberals (who are pussies).

No society or individual has ever suffered for an overabundance of reason. Nobody has ever said, "Boy, that Mr. Bates sure isn't doing himself any good by thinking so logically!". Yet what system of thought convinces people its a good idea to murder abortion doctors, or inhibit free speech? What virtue, prized above all others in our society turns off the '1 + 1 = 2' section of our brains? Thats right.

The still, small voice

Sometimes I forget what its like to know people who so strongly believe in things they cannot see that they would kill to feed their convictions. Though I was once a faith-head I wasn't ever a very good one, I just never found belief in the unseen and unreasonable very easy. I was born with, as they say, stiff knees. However I lived in a very homogeneous community which prided itself upon a conservative understanding of the Bible and politics in general.

When you grow up 'knowing' certain things, like that the emperor of the Cosmos was born from a human virgin, or that the most educated biologists in the world could be debated under a table by a 10 year old armed only with the book of Genesis, nothing is out of bounds, nothing is too crazy, how could it be? The types of things you are supposed to believe strain credulity like a tightly pulled rubber band; it doesn't take much to snap.

I suppose that is what happened a couple days ago when a man walked into a Sunday church service, identified his target, George Tiller a doctor known for performing abortions, pulled out a gun and shot him point-blank in the face. Eye-witness accounts say that multiple people, including Dr. Tiller's wife pleaded with the killer before he shot but to no avail, his hatred and blind fervor was too strong.

The killer, whose name is inconsequential, is ideologically no different than the Muslim terrorists killing civilians and foreign contractors in Iraq, absolutely no different. Both feel that they are doing god's will and are beyond the persuasion of reason. Both hold fast to ideas that are incompatible with modern society and as a result both should be eliminated. Those who would say the death penalty is no different than murder should speak to Dr. Tiller's wife and see if their bullshit flies. The death penalty is what we exact upon individuals who cannot live in society without deliberately harming or killing those around them, it is a decision not taken lightly and not fueled by passion, it is a last resort that we employ against only the worst of humans.

A big problem remains though, the seed which caused this killing still exists: faith. In my mind nothing is more dangerous, faith is the reason I write this whole stupid blog: making fun of people who believe irrational ideas is an outlet. The mechanism of belief is a different matter though, and fortunately brain scientists have been isolating what makes some people more gullible, or willing to believe than others. In the meantime, we might as well make fun of the innocuous faithers and stand against the dangerous ones.

Regression

The Bush Administration is attempting to pass legislation that would equate contraceptives with abortion.

Awesome, just awesome. If theres anything this country needs its more people having babies because our leaders believe they are doing the will of their almighty sky father.

But this is what we should expect from a religion that believes the birth cannal should be a one way street only. Contraceptives prevent unwanted pregnancies, protect people from dangerous STDs and promote responsible thinking and practices concerning sex so why would anyone in their right mind be against them? Religion, religion, religion, thats what it takes. Its not enough for these people to believe that sex is immoral, they have to do everything in their power to actually prevent others from engaging in the practice. Ignorant arrogance; its not enough for these people to believe that sex is immoral, they are so insecure that they actually have to try and prevent others from engaging in it.

We've got a lot of work ahead of us.