Rhetorical Umbrella

Morning Thoughts #19

In an illogical age, logic holds no sway. Being able to argue well holds no value when your opponent does not accept your terms. It is an easy analogy to make, but imagine a parent arguing with a child. What good are logically sound and expertly articulated arguments in battles over, let's say, candy consumption? In a democracy of children, the most successful and celebrated elected officials will be those best at giving and promising to give candy. 

People whose beliefs keep pace with the times often fail to recognize their own evolution. They believe that the truths they hold today have always been the beliefs they have truly held, even if they previously held opposing views with equal fervor. Woe to those who are repeatedly radicalized into mere pawns! If we could all sit down with our former selves from 5 or 10 years ago, we would repent of many dangerous and superficial fashions.

Whoever dares maintain core values and beliefs in a rapidly shifting world should expect eventual ridicule and, finally, to be assigned a derogatory label. A lesson yesterday’s champions of equality will mercilessly learn when tomorrow’s champions of equity consolidate their power. 

When you speak in lockstep with the times, the temptation to not examine your own beliefs becomes greater. The chorus of like-minded voices seems to be its own proof. And as more voices join in, dogmatism eventually results. In that sense, we are currently living in perhaps the most religious of ages. When we know our beliefs to be self-evidently good and morally right, why waste time constructing logical defenses for them? To argue against us would be like a beach umbrella disputing the sun. Obviously, this hypothetical beach umbrella is also evil, we would likely add.

Beach umbrellas aside, those beliefs which are held so vehemently as to be self-evident, to the point where the believer cannot even begin to defend them through words, can be expected to eventually be defended through swords. So why do I write? As a prayer, asking for the coming of a new golden age of rhetoric, from which the logic of peace can be proven.