The Ad Hominem Problem

I did not play a sport in college, but nevertheless I can make a strong argument that college football players can be paid.  I can make a weak one too.  That’s because arguments are strong or weak depending on the strength of the premises supporting the conclusion, and not based upon who is making the argument. Someone who has never been a soldier can convincingly assert that a bumper sticker that says “my marine can pick off your honor student at five hundred yards” is horribly inappropriate and offensive.  A white person can author a wonderful piece on the inappropriateness of the use of the N word by Black Americans.  A man can shed light on the debate over the appropriateness of C-Sections.  They can all also sound stupid.  Of course the same exact thing can be said about a woman asserting that breast milk is the only way to go when feeding your infant or a black woman asserting that black children should only be adopted by black families.  What matters is the argument itself, not who is delivering it.  The sooner we learn that, the sooner political debates will stop sounding like something you could hear on sports talk radio.

Don't Remove the Fences

The lion at the zoo only eats you

If you remove the fences

An argument over texting during movie previews only leads to death

If you remove the fences

The Fairy Tale of Freedom

Freedom

Is the Santa Claus

We never stop believing in

Free Phil!

I am really upset about what happened to that Duck Dynasty guy.  I am afraid of the message this sends.  Folks should be able to stand on a table at their place of employment and proclaim that gays will rot in hell and black people were happy under Jim Crow.  Heck, I was hoping to be able to send a general e-mail to my students informing them of why Whites are superior and women should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen and not have to worry about losing my job.  It just isn’t fair.  This is definitely a cause worth getting excited about.   Forget hunger and cancer and spousal abuse and universal health care and whatever else you liberal big government types want to foist on the rest of us.  I know what is important.  I’m going to stand up for ignorant and hateful reality television stars everywhere, and the millions of us who want to be able to be equally ignorant and hateful.  It’s time to band together, cloak our ignorance and hate under the cover of religion and a twisted vision of the Constitution, and fight the good fight!  Reason and logic can’t stop us now!!

We The People

We

The

People

Wanted

Improved union

Unison

Unity

And

Sought Justice

Peace

Safety

Welfare

For right now and

The future

For us and

Everyone else

Freedom

Coming last

Unrecognizable

Responsible

Responsibility

Liberty

After all

We were

Not

A Person

We were

The

People

Freedom

Freedom

To speak

To worship

To assemble

To vote

To starve

To remain ignorant

To hate

To leave

To be

You

And

Me

Jihad

I am struggling

To have you listen to my

Words

And not your own

Fears