Friday, August 28, 2020

In addition to being a bad argument technique...

 ...playing the Nazi card is a typically a sign that historical illiteracy is at work.

Not necessarily on the part of the speaker, though that's not a bad bet. 

The exclamation "READ ANOTHER BOOK, ELOI!" rockets through my cerebellum on a too-regular basis. 

No, it can also be a recognition by the speaker that he's talking to crowds whose familiarity with the first half of the 20th Century is limited to Inglourious Basterds or The English Patient.

They don't make many movies about communist atrocities, even though plenty of Catholic clergy and religious have sucked up to the hammer and sickle. 

So keep that in mind when reading that Fr. Daniel Horan lazily slandered the nun who spoke at the RNC by comparing her to a German nun giving the Nazi salute

Now, I don't know what to make of the President's sincerity on abortion, and his personal life has been a trainwreck of adultery. But his actual record on the issue has been a lot better than those whose sincerity has been less open to question. It can be safely said that he recognizes it is important to people who vote for him, so he attempts to deliver.

I wouldn't have done the fulsome endorsement Sister did--nope. But Fr. Horan's Godwin/Whataboutism hybrid was grotesque, and cleverly-evaded engaging with the substance of the nun's speech. As did his "sorry you misinterpreted it" non-apology.

The Catholic Left has its own "All Lives Matter" tic when it comes to abortion, and it is open to the same legitimate criticism.

Namely, you do not have to advocate on all possible permutations of a life issue. You are allowed to focus, and reflexively barking out a laundry list of seamless garment issues is not a response. It's an obstruction. 

An actively-hostile one. And don't think it's not noticed.

Now, if you want to rhetorically-belt Austin Ruse in the chops, go right ahead

[8/31/2020 Update: here's a screenshot of the tweet that caused Ruse to lock his Twitter account. Not a good look:]


 

11 comments:

  1. Since we all know Trump is a fascist, I wonder what you call someone (Biden) who calls for a coup d'état?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not a single screenshot, archive, or link to Autsin's tweet? Yeah... forgive me if I don't believe an outlet that quotes the SPLC.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He wrote the Tweet. It's not a matter of debate. He just deleted it.

      Delete
    2. Correction, he just locked his account, so the tweet is no longer accessible.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, I'm not one to say it's out of the question - but when it comes to the news, they've really got to get better at sourcing their stuff. It's the internet. It's dead simple to link - screenshot - archive and I will continue to mock every reporter who can't grasp something middle-schoolers are mastering.

      Delete
  3. In regards to Trump and abortion -- he himself has lots of children. And grandchildren. If you look at Canada and Europe there's a lot of childless leaders. To me that gives him a certain credibility. Jane Meyerhofer

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  4. "It can be safely said that he recognizes it is important to people who vote for him, so he attempts to deliver."

    I am continually amazed how hard it is for people to grasp this obvious political fact.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, he says with deep wisdom.

      Trump is a salesman, and has survived in sales for decades. At a minimum, that suggests he recognizes you should try to keep good customers happy.

      Delete
  5. I see the update. Dale is clearly superior to MSN.

    (Also it's just a good habit to get into. I've seen too many people- many of them leftist, but the right isn't innocent - run a quick edit when they get caught at something and then claim you are the liar.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nate: it's fair and good to want confirmation.

    There's entirely too much falsehood floating around the internet, along with people who don't care about the truth when a hated opponent is on the receiving end.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah. If you really want to go mad sometime, next time there's a news story, see how long it takes you to run down a primary source on it.

      Delete

Be reasonably civil. Ire alloyed with reason is fine. But slagging the host gets you the banhammer.

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