Interesting 🤨… But it could be both are true and most of us don’t want to face the horrors
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> Actually the only reason you're saying that is because you had a bad relationship with your mother.
These kind of "checkmate I analyzed you" arguments give me a bad taste in my mouth because it's impossible to defend against them...
These kind of "checkmate I analyzed you" arguments give me a bad taste in my mouth because it's impossible to defend against them...
That's a good point - though in this case it's not *entirely* a non-argument. "You are predisposed to believe X because it makes you feel better about Y" is valid as supporting evidence, but they need to also make the case that believing X is in fact irrational.
Still a form of ad hominem or question begging
The thing is, sometimes you actually do need that argument. If I argue that X is irrational and stupid, you can very reasonably say "okay smart guy, how do you explain why so many people believe it?"
If I can't give you an answer, it means my mental model is incomplete which makes my argument unstable - I might be missing something important.
Example:
> Infant circumcision is medically useless and irrational because <supporting evidence>
> Okay but how do you explain why so many (non-religious) people still do it?
Bad answer: IDK they're dumb.
Good answer: Because it's easier to believe that the foreskin is some useless trash that needs to get cut off, than it is to believe that part of your dick is missing. So the psychological defense mechanism reenforces the practice.
If I can't give you an answer, it means my mental model is incomplete which makes my argument unstable - I might be missing something important.
Example:
> Infant circumcision is medically useless and irrational because <supporting evidence>
> Okay but how do you explain why so many (non-religious) people still do it?
Bad answer: IDK they're dumb.
Good answer: Because it's easier to believe that the foreskin is some useless trash that needs to get cut off, than it is to believe that part of your dick is missing. So the psychological defense mechanism reenforces the practice.
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@cjd
This doesn't explain why it started happening in the first place.
@parker @BowsacNoodle
Well, there's a huge history of bizzare medical ideas that have popped up at various times in the past and are now universally recognized as bad, so it doesn't take a leap of faith to imagine there was another one.
@cjd @BowsacNoodle They're dumb is a perfectly acceptable answer. Everyone believes stupid shit, myself included. You can use the many instances of people believing in stupid things as evidence that appealing to the masses is a non argument. You could go into more detail if you want, like mass indoctrination being why the majority of Canadians believing it's Trump's fault Canada is getting worse. But "they're dumb" remains a valid response.
@cjd @BowsacNoodle That isn't to say being stupid is necessarily a bad thing. People are allowed to be stupid.