The Daily Insult

Anything approaching a fully satisfactory explanation of the phenomena of knowledge requires the co-operative efforts of all those who believe that there is a world of real existence independent of human minds and that this real existence can be truly known as it really is.

— Francis Parker, “Realistic Epistemology”

In this section, I shall post brief discussions of errors in logic in commercials, news items, fiction — errors that just vex me. I just need a place to get this stuff out of my system. [Note: “Daily” in this context should not lead the reader to expect that I will be posting something every day.]

June 21, 2018

One of the things that makes an argument insulting is not just that it is obviously illogical, but that the writers apparently have but little regard for their readers and think that that they are too dimwitted to notice.

The news article I pick today has not been chosen because of its subject matter. Whether the point of its arguments is one I share is completely irrelevant. It comes from the June 20, 2018, edition of euronews (at euronews.com): “EU must strip Hungary of voting rights. Helping migrants is not a crime,” by Kersty McCourt and Natacha Kazatchkine.

The writers are exercised over a new law passed by the Hungarian parliament aimed at limiting the activities of people who would assist migrants enter or stay in Hungary. They object to the law’s objective of preventing Hungary becoming “a migrant country” on the ground that “Hungary has one of the smallest migrant populations of any EU member state.”

There may be any number of good reasons to object to the new law, but that, patently, is not one of them. Anyone who will give the matter a moment’s thought can see that if one believes that a migrant population poses a problem for a nation, the sooner one addresses that problem, the better. If migrants pose a danger to a nation, the time to address the danger just is when that population is small.

Is it not clear that this fact — the old “stitch in time saves nine” consideration — is as clear as the nose on your face? Do McCourt and Kazatchkine not see it? Do they expect their readers not to see it?

Ladies ... object to Hungary’s laws all you want, but don’t insult the intelligence of your readers. Have a little respect.

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