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Quote of the Day: Say What?
“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him. ” — Proverbs 18:17, English Standard Version
“A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.” — not Mark Twain
The first quote was likely first written 3,000 years ago, one of the proverbs of King Solomon. It assumes a fair hearing. It assumes that the listener or listeners are open to hearing contradictory testimony or adversarial questioning of the first speaker.
The proverb is still true today, yet the public square now features goons whose leaders understand that their side will “seem right” if “the other” never gets to come and effectively question their claims. In such an environment, amplified by social media with algorithms favoring the lie and suppressing the truth, those who would speak truth to power, or even just engage in real dialog, are at enormous disadvantage. Still, the ancient wisdom is true.
Human beings start filtering or dialing down the mass and social media noise, and start noticing the loud chorus is singing off the same sheet, and that the tunes are quite predictable. So, our society depends on effective advocates questioning the conventional wisdom, challenging the dominant narrative. So, each of us needs to grab our boots and, in the words of the old Army running song: “shine them up, lace them up, put them on your feet.”
Published in Group Writing
Three quotations in one.
We can start with items that are demonstrably false, like men can have babies. Then bring up the “were going to die” items like food shortages by 2000 espoused by Paul Erlich, acid rain, ozone hole, oil shortages, and now global warming. If that doesn’t convince them, talk about early medicine ideas such as blood letting, the Phlogiston theory of fire, and Lysenkoism. Then ask is there any way that their ideas can be proven?
The Quote of the Day series is the easiest way to start a fun conversation on Ricochet. There are 6 open days left on the November Signup Sheet, including Friday and Sunday this weekend! We even include tips for finding great quotes, so choose your favorite quote and sign up today!
That was by the 1970’s and 80’s. We were all dead by 2000 according to Erlich. To quote from Wikipedia:
Orgone is my personal favorite.
That’s what my personal blog is for, and I use it that way. My latest post involves people who feed their (obligate-carnivore) cats a vegan diet. RushBabe49.com