I was just thinking this last night about trump. My parents assume all his accusers are liars but he is honest. If questioned on it, they will always use a whataboutism to say every politician is like that.
“Here is a 1km-long scroll containg an abridged list of his more egregious lies.”
“All politicians are like that.”
“But you just said he’s honest. Are you arguing that he tells the truth, except when he frequently doesn’t, that this behavior still somehow qualifies as honest, but if not, is still okay because every other politician, most of whom you can’t name, much less quote, is an as equally prolific liar as the person you claim is honest? That would be as vague as it is self-contradictory.”
[Angry rationalization noises]
As you can tell, my community, too, has its share of personality cultists.
Yeah you pretty much got what they’d do. Except the emergency escape hatch to avoid justifying anything is just “let’s not talk about politics”. So they get to avoid questioning any belief they have. Because they don’t want to ever consider that they’re wrong. Funny, coming from parents who tell me I’m smart. I’m smart, just wrong about everything they’ve ever formed an opinion on.
Only antidote I can think of to this, assuming you aren’t reliant on your parents for survival needs at this stage of the game/would prefer they just shut up rather than continuing to poke at them, is the Toddler’s Gambit.
Just keep asking ‘why’ until the gears start turning or they have a meltdown.
(I have no idea if anyone else calls this the Toddler’s Gambit)
Ugh. I hate the “Let’s not talk.” I’d be on board with it if it were equitable. I tried it to avoid these kinds of conversations, but they keep talking. Then I start pulling at the logic. Then they say, “Let’s not talk.” Frustrating.
Yeah. Well my parents learned long ago that they have no argument so they pretty much never want to talk about it anymore. My mom slips up and mentions how Obamacare has ruined her life (with no precise explanation) occasionally, but otherwise “politics” are completely off limits
I was just thinking this last night about trump. My parents assume all his accusers are liars but he is honest. If questioned on it, they will always use a whataboutism to say every politician is like that.
Gotta love the logic there.
“Trump is honest.”
“Here is a 1km-long scroll containg an abridged list of his more egregious lies.”
“All politicians are like that.”
“But you just said he’s honest. Are you arguing that he tells the truth, except when he frequently doesn’t, that this behavior still somehow qualifies as honest, but if not, is still okay because every other politician, most of whom you can’t name, much less quote, is an as equally prolific liar as the person you claim is honest? That would be as vague as it is self-contradictory.”
[Angry rationalization noises]
As you can tell, my community, too, has its share of personality cultists.
Yeah you pretty much got what they’d do. Except the emergency escape hatch to avoid justifying anything is just “let’s not talk about politics”. So they get to avoid questioning any belief they have. Because they don’t want to ever consider that they’re wrong. Funny, coming from parents who tell me I’m smart. I’m smart, just wrong about everything they’ve ever formed an opinion on.
Only antidote I can think of to this, assuming you aren’t reliant on your parents for survival needs at this stage of the game/would prefer they just shut up rather than continuing to poke at them, is the Toddler’s Gambit.
Just keep asking ‘why’ until the gears start turning or they have a meltdown.
(I have no idea if anyone else calls this the Toddler’s Gambit)
Ugh. I hate the “Let’s not talk.” I’d be on board with it if it were equitable. I tried it to avoid these kinds of conversations, but they keep talking. Then I start pulling at the logic. Then they say, “Let’s not talk.” Frustrating.
‘Lets not’ means ‘lets you not’ more often than not.
Yeah. Well my parents learned long ago that they have no argument so they pretty much never want to talk about it anymore. My mom slips up and mentions how Obamacare has ruined her life (with no precise explanation) occasionally, but otherwise “politics” are completely off limits