Burden of Proof

The failure (and even unwillingness) to  disprove another’s assertion is not a valid argument nor proof of the veracity of the assertion.  The burden of proof is always on those who make the assertion or claim. This is especially so when an idea or phenomena  is unsupported or is not (all too often) falsifiable.

If a fan of political candidate X says that candidate X would make a great elected official, the proper response is: why?  The rejoinder ought to be a reasonable listing of candidate X’s qualifications, ideas, and general experience – particularly on weighty or important issues of public concern.  If the reply is simply, prove to me he would not be great in office and if you can’t then that, in and of itself, demonstrates he should be elected.  Of course, this is totally nonsensical and you ought not not take the person seriously.  However, if you stop and think about it such rationalization occurs all-too-frequently.

The road to tyranny over of the mind and body of man is paved with such nonsense disguised as serious argument – fallacious as it is at its core. Those that employ it are tyrants and power-lusters of the worst sort. Moreover, those that accept it have simply abandoned their mind.  My view is that as a rational being you have a duty, not a fleeting choice or whim, to not accept ideas if the best or only argument for them is premised upon the inability to disprove that which is  unproven.

Facts, reason, and proof-not faith or flights of fantasy-are the source of all that is true.

Ask why, and demand proof whenever and wherever you’re suspicious!!

Facts Matter

Rioting and creating mayhem including the burning of cars, buildings (government and private), and other infrastructure plus the purposeful damage to businesses (along with boycotting cyber sales and redefining Black Friday in racial terms), etc., etc. In short, purposefully destroying and damaging many of the things  and actual values that allow for individuals to improve and sustain their own (and others) lives through productive work supposedly as a means of demonstrating and protesting for “social justice (an anti-concept devoid of actual justice).” In lock step with this irrationality we also see and hear the mantra that “Black Lives Matter,” as if this single meme justifies everything and anything to get attention and, ostensibly, obtain through chaos, force, and intimidation that which is only obtainable through creating actual values by pursuing the exact opposite.

Of course the lives of African Americans matter. But in no way greater or lesser than white lives, yellow lives, red lives, your life, or my life. There simply is no debt to African Americans to which anyone is liable – historically or otherwise. Lives “matter” only to the extent and in regard to the values one creates in making their life better by whatever metric they choose. It’s fundamentally the values one can trade at arms length to others be they services, products, marketable ideas, or in raising value conscious and goal oriented children and young adults. Regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation it’s not what we’re given or where we start in life, but rather it’s what we create with our own minds manifested through productive work coupled with how we conduct ourselves in a social context.  Work, study and education (formal/government sponsored, private, or self), perseverance, dedication, and an unrelenting focus on ones rational best interests while respecting the rights of others to the same are the issues that actually matter, yet seem to be completely and totally ignored (conveniently supressed) in the whole Ferguson discussion.

None other than Walter Williams opined on this stating in summary that:

Either black students cannot learn or primary and secondary schools, parental choices, black student attitudes, and cultural values regarding education are not conducive to what young blacks need for academic excellence. Colleges admitting underperforming black students conceal, foster and perpetuate the educational damages done to these youngsters in their earlier education.
Read more at http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams111214.php3#k5UJTemGVVgvjdKB.99

What we’re being told is that facts don’t matter in and of themselves, rather it’s how events and actions are culturally perceived that matter. And to the extent this perception can be interpreted culturally (racially in the context of Ferguson) to be defined as injustice it justifies the destruction of real values and elevates subjectivism above reason and reality. Of course black lives matter. However, facts matter much much more and destroying values in the hope of gaining life serving values without regard for the causal connections that actually create those values is simply and purely a dead end.  Dr. Williams point should be reinforced here 75% of the issues he astutely pinpointed were controllable. Parental choices, black student attitudes, and cultural values are all issues that are within the control of minorities.

Yes, Black Lives matter. However, facts matter more.  If blacks want their lives to be meaningful then drop the pretext of injustice when engaging in riots and focus on real justice and in support of those attitudes and behaviors (cultural, parental, and educational) that will support the values we all need to support our lives.

Social Justice

… is the anti-concept that employs the concept of (the word) “justice” in order to gain moral credibility, and then obliterates the concept by replacing it with the idea that the forcible redistribution of wealth is moral. This is convolution hardly to be matched.. it trades off justice for profound injustice, or anti-justice.

For much more on this please see Craig Biddle’s astonishingly clarifying video.