No Facts, No Problems

December 15, 2011 at 2:30 PM

By RAY MAYFIELD 

In an undergraduate course many years ago, my Logics professor held that  when people have no facts that logically supports their position, their likely response is to demonize the opponent,  throw in a few inflammatory words, and then make a couple of statements so incredulous that there can be no logical retort.  

That learning came to me as I read Carol Kilmon’s letter (The Myopic Progressives, Star Dem Sunday) responding to an earlier letter by Mike Brown.  

Calling Mike a “low-end Barrack Obama lackey” who “is merely playing the childish game of follow the leader” and “one of the bottom rung recipients” serve nicely as strong attack phrases. 

Ms. Kilmon goes on to note that “Mr. Brown continues his tiresome attacks, trying to vilify the GOP by making false accusations that lack any reality.”

For a little inflammatory language, she uses “parroting every falsehood of the multitude uttered by the Lair-in-Chief.” Her statement: “Obama’s desperation is passing through the ranks like Ex-Lax…” is simply crude.

She then makes the astonishing statement that “The Democrats never had any intention of compromising on anything.”  Really?

Perfect!  No meaningful facts.  No logical analysis.  Rather, attack the person, use inflammatory language and then make a claim so silly that it defies further comment.  

Unfortunately, we are now seeing the Nation’s Republican leadership (including Andy Harris) use these same evasion tactics in their public pronouncements.  This does nothing to promote meaningful discussion on important public policy issues.

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