Author: Chris
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The 4th Largest Religion: No Religion
Next week’s New Yorker makes a point that I hadn’t considered, perhaps because there is so much religiosity in America. In a review of recently-published books on atheism, Anthony Gottlieb writes: …one can venture conservative estimates of the number of unbelievers in the world today. Reviewing a large number of studies among some fifty countries,…
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The Fourth Hand, Spread Confusion!
Now, the debate starts to get fun. This group of Denialists’ cards are all about spreading confusion. The more that one muddies the waters, the harder it is for anyone to do anything. And so, the place to start is with the Red Herring. The “red herring” argument is a frequently-employed and efficacious tool to…
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: Responsibility’s Good, Except for Us
This pair should sound familiar. Industry lobbyists love the idea of individual responsibility. And so they will argue that individuals should be responsible for addressing a problem (paired with the 4 of Clubs or the 6 of Clubs). But in other contexts, accountability goes out the window. They need total immunity from lawsuits.
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The 7 of Hearts, “Jobs!”
The trick to using the “Jobs” card is to totally over inflate the size of your industry and the number of employees it has. It’s quite a compelling argument, and sometimes it’s true. But I’ve seen many cases where a regulation creates new jobs and economic development. A great recent example of the 7 of…
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: Too Much Regulation, or No Regulation
Many cards in the Denialists’ Deck allow one to make a bogus argument no matter the situation. So, with the Six of Spades and the Seven of Clubs, you use one card if your industry is highly regulated, and the other if it isn’t.
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The 6s, “Stifles Innovation” and “Technology Can’t Be Regulated”
Competition is magic. But this argument must be amplified! How? Easy, appeal to “innovation.” The denalist will argue that the intervention will stifle innovation. Typical 6 of Hearts arguments include “this is just a tool,” and “you’re banning technology.” Next is the 6 of Diamonds, a somewhat contradictory but still widely-used argument–that technology “can’t be…
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The Wall Street Journal, A Denialist Debunker?
I’m a real fan of the Wall Street Journal. I read it on the BART every morning, to the displeasure of my knee-jerk co-passengers. Why is the Journal awesome? Because days like today, you find reporting showing how branding is often an illusion, how cheaper printer cartridges are actually more expensive, and how formaldehyde is…
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The Third Hand, Competition is Magic
A denialist does not soft pedal competition. It is a religious term. It is frequently employed, because any market can be described as competitive, regardless of the facts or the myriad factors that practically limit choice. Competition solves all problems. Period. If competition doesn’t solve the problem at issue, then it isn’t a problem, or…
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The Ace of Clubs, “Our Rights”
Allow me to jump ahead in the Denialists’ Deck of Cards, in light of Verizon’s claim that giving customer records to the National Security Agency is protected by the First Amendment: “Communicating facts to the government is protected petitioning activity,” says the response, even when the communication of those facts would normally be illegal or…
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Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The 5 of Spades, “Delay Tactics”
Delay always benefits the denalist. At this point, any number of delay tactics can be employed to wait and see whether consumer education will solve the problem that doesn’t exist.