Sunday Meditation: "Come now, let us reason together." Isaiah 1:18

Jean Louis Meissonier (1815–1891)

The way people argue on social media is so often so mindless that I decided to go back and review the rules of logic. I took down Introduction to Logic by Irving Copi and Carl Cohen from a shelf in my home library to check out the fallacies. Originally published in 1994, it's a college textbook. Interestingly Part One on reasoning begins with the quote in the headline from Isaiah, "Come now, and let us reason together." Even before I had a chance to dive into the subject of logic, I was intrigued and distracted by the quote and decided to look it up and check out the context.

Bible translations vary greatly and there are a number of different translations for this particular verse. I checked them out at Bible Hub which I often use as a reference. Most of the bibles listed use the words "reason together." I'll just list one example:

English Standard Version: “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Look at the Data: Is "Systemic Racism" Real?

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert

I receive a daily summary of articles from Lew Rockwell, a libertarian website. Scanning the headlines generally leads me to at least one article on a timely subject. Today it was this one, Hysteria Based on Phony Numbers, BLM Edition. The author, Tom Woods, challenges his readers to check the data. Question! Study! Don't just accept uncritically the talking points you're being fed!

Over and over at every recent protest we hear that police officers target blacks, that all whites are racists, that racism is systemic. Woods describes a challenge by cartoonist Scott Adams (Dilbert creator) for anyone to give a real example of systemic racism in America. Adams has yet to get one. 

The Wisdom of G. K. Chesterton and St. Francis de Sales

"Live in such a manner that one will
recognize clearly in you a person who
loves God with his whole heart."
St. Francis de Sales

I read this Chesterton quote on Mundabor's blog and found it interesting and thought provoking:

"If a critic tells a particular lie, that particular lie can be pointed out. If he misses a specific point, that point can be explained. If he is really wrong in this or that, it will be on this or that that the insulted person will eagerly pounce. But “malice and spite” are vague words which will never be used except when there is really nothing to pounce on. If a man says that I am a dwarf, I can invite him to measure me. If he says I am a cannibal, I can invite him to dinner. If he says I am a coward, I can hit him. If he says I am a miser, I can give him half-a-sovereign. But if he says I am fat and lazy (which is true), the best I can answer is that he speaks out of malice and spite. Whenever we see that phrase, we may be almost certain that somebody has told the truth about somebody else." 

  The Illustrated London News, 13 November 1909.

Only Fools Don't Judge!