The Race Card

You know, I thought they said that electing the anointed one would silence all the calls that we were a racist society. That really didn't work out the way they said did it.

But aside from that.

Over and over again in the news I hear the call that anyone who opposes anything proposed by this administration is racist. But when asked what is bigoted about their opposition, the accusers point to the president and say, "See, he's black (or 'of color', or African American, or whatever) therefore you're being racists.

So, what is being said is that because he is considered a minority, any time we're not in lockstep with him we're being racist. The accusors can't actually point out anything about the people they're accusing as being racist. They, in fact, have to point to outside criteria and then equate that with the accused. Hey, an example of Reductio Ad Absurdum.

Folks, I've talked about false logic and fallacious arguments before. Can you guess what kind of logic flaw this argument is?

This is a classic example of Ad Hominem (Argument To The Man). Rather than try to support your ideas or attack the others ideas. You instead attack the person. Since, if that person is bad or sick then his/her arguments must be bad or sick as well.

We could turn the argument around for example. As recent polls have shown, 55% of the American people don't like the president's health reform bill. The president is black, therefore 55% of the American people don't like the president and are racists. Put that way, the logic just isn't there. This then becomes an example of Affirming The Consequent. Another fallacious argument. Simply put "if P then Q" is turned around to "Q therefore P". For example, "All people whose surname begins with Mac are of Scottish ancestry. Dougal is of Scottish ancestry. Therefore his surname begins with Mac." But actually his name is Campbell.

The upshot is just because we don't like something that the president has done, is doing or is trying to do, doesn't make us racists.

And for a bit of fun, I could argue that because you're always agreeing with what the president is doing, and you think that anyone who disagrees with him is racist, that you're afraid of disagreeing with him and being thought of as racists, therefore you are racist.

But that's a fallacious argument for a later date.