One of the many things that I get bashed in the head with daily, hourly, by the minute some days, is the mental gymnastics people use to justify their narrow mindset. Now I'm not going to sit down and explain that somehow I am immune to this, I know I've got my own blind spots and that is a fact. I'm watching for them, however and I think on them critically, even going so far as to chastise myself roundly for them. It's gotten to the point where I'll actually dissect them roundly until I remember them enough not to step in them on ACCIDENT anymore.
This however is not about my narrowness at the moment.
Something I do not use if I can avoid it are disclaimers. Disclaiming and using something that says either contextually that something is not like something else. Before I get to that, let me sidetrack a little and explain why I avoid them by explaining the mindset of persons who employ them, as well as to what end they do so.
Let's start with False Claims, because they are essentially straw men in a brief and childish form. Let's say you and I are talking and you look into the sky and voice this epiphany:
A zebra is like a cloud.
I'm going to call bullshit on you. Not just because it's preposterous and very Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, but because it's demonstrably false. They aren't similar enough to say something of that type. I mean the closest you'll get to likening them unto each other is a possible similarity in ONE color. That's a stretch, a LEAP in fact that logically cannot be taken.
Groups of people will do this kind of crap in order to get sympathy or in order to shove their brand of logic in your face and insist it's valid. Frightening really when you see it for what it is, an attempt to rationalize bad behavior or bigoted mentality.
BUT the reverse of this is also true, and in my life I've noted that this precept is endorsed and utilized by the same people who willingly will run out and scream something isn't what it IS also. Let me clarify that for you:
The same people who will tell you something is something or is LIKE something it isn't will also tell you the reverse, that something ISN'T what it IS!
The best example I can give you is the recent attempt in Arizona to make laws that focus on immigrants from Mexico and attempt to focus on making them target of harassment. They prefaced this on radio, print and TV by saying "This law is NOT racist". With that disclaimer front loaded they proceed to rationalize that it's somehow needed and that illegal immigration is a bigger problem than the realities of why it's occurring or any of the other issues that create it. It's rather like a magician's act, subterfuge, to make you look in the area they prefer so they can get away with something else. Don't look behind the curtain, don't think too deeply, don't employ critical judgement.
So to what end are they used? Simple really.
They don't have the intellectual honesty to see they are what they wish they were not.
Remember that the next time you want to disclaim something. Part of being a better person tomorrow is owning your issues.
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