"You're either with us or against us..." President George W Bush, Nov 6, 2001
How many times have we heard those on the left criticize President Bush for this kind of thinking?
"That kind of either-or binary logic is too simplistic for today's world," they tell us. "It isn't realistic to apply that kind of absolute values based thinking. Our approach must be more nuanced."
It's black or white vs. shades of gray.
Good and evil vs. moral relativism.
Yes or no vs. maybe, maybe not.
You usually only find thinking like this when dealing with fanatics or religious fundamentalist zealots, which is why I was surprised during my debate on the Geneva Conventions last week to find so many of those arguing against me using binary logic. Over and over again, I was accused of supporting torture when I never said anything of the kind. All I did was question whether we should apply the Geneva Conventions to people who were explicitly denied coverage by the Conventions themselves, and for that horrible crime, I was called a sociopath, among other things.
It was as if those on the other side of the debate couldn't conceive of any position between the two; you were either for universal application of the Geneva Conventions or you supported stubbing cigarettes out on somebody's testicles.
Sorta makes you wonder who the fundamentalists really are...
Posted by Rich at September 25, 2006 11:46 AM | TrackBack