My position is based on what my god tells me, not what humans say. Although I do have many many human sources as well that are primary sources and also secondary whistleblowers and others talking about classified information.
Wretchard's point is very important, and applied beyond the current coronavirus crisis...*everything* that gets politicized locks people into positions.
I've been thinking lately that many if not most Americans are now acting like lawyers...by which I most definitely do not mean that they have developed strong logical reasoning skills, knowledge of the laws, public speaking abilities, etc. No, I mean that they are acting like a lawyer with a client and a case to win, and their interest is in finding things that support this case and thinking about how to downplay things that do not support the case. They aren't interested in objective truth; that is for the jury and judge in an adversary proceeding...but in politics, the "lawyers" *are* the members of the jury.
Lawyers tend to overstate their positions, as is appropriate in an adversarial system where their function is to test the outer limits of the other side's arguments. Policy makers--and voters--should be more like judges or mediators.
Good point. He is one of the smartest people out there.
ReplyDeleteMy position is based on what my god tells me, not what humans say. Although I do have many many human sources as well that are primary sources and also secondary whistleblowers and others talking about classified information.
ReplyDeleteWretchard's point is very important, and applied beyond the current coronavirus crisis...*everything* that gets politicized locks people into positions.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking lately that many if not most Americans are now acting like lawyers...by which I most definitely do not mean that they have developed strong logical reasoning skills, knowledge of the laws, public speaking abilities, etc. No, I mean that they are acting like a lawyer with a client and a case to win, and their interest is in finding things that support this case and thinking about how to downplay things that do not support the case. They aren't interested in objective truth; that is for the jury and judge in an adversary proceeding...but in politics, the "lawyers" *are* the members of the jury.
Lawyers tend to overstate their positions, as is appropriate in an adversarial system where their function is to test the outer limits of the other side's arguments. Policy makers--and voters--should be more like judges or mediators.
ReplyDeletePolicy makers--and voters--should be more like judges or mediators.
ReplyDeleteNo, policy makers should be more like employees. We voters are the judges--and there's nothing for us to mediate, except among ourselves.
Eric Hines