David Allen Kelly | kellydallen

Web Design, Literature, Production, Remixing, Philosophy

How to Argue with Someone Who Deceives Themself

4 Comments Posted by on October 22, 2004

A new study shows (surprise!) that Bush supporters wrongfully believe things like Saddam was found to have a weapons program or WMD’s and that (!!) the rest of the world supports the US in invading Iraq. 

"The roots of the Bush supporters’ resistance to information," according to Steven Kull, "very likely lie in the traumatic experience of 9/11 and equally in the near pitch-perfect leadership that President Bush showed in its immediate wake. This appears to have created a powerful bond between Bush and his supporters–and an idealized image of the President that makes it difficult for his supporters to imagine that he could have made incorrect judgments before the war, that world public opinion could be critical of his policies or that the President could hold foreign policy positions that are at odds with his supporters."

How do you convince people that cannot hear truth?  It’s like saying to someone, "The sky is blue" and they respond, "No, it’s lime green because Bush said so."

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4 Responses to How to Argue with Someone Who Deceives Themself

  1. P October 22, 2004 at 8:10 pm

    what would Kerry do? What will Kerry do? The past is the past, but what about the future? What is he going to do?? He will be fron and center in front of millions, you can’t fake an injury then?? Much easier said then done, and in hindsight we all can be Einstein’s…….

  2. kd October 23, 2004 at 12:10 am

    I don’t necessarily think Kerry could do better, but I doubt he’d do worse, so that issue is a wash. My biggest problem with Bush is ethical integrity. With the way they ran the campaign against McCain (someone who would have been good for this country), I’ll never again trust a single thing he or anyone in his administration says. And don’t even let me get started about Ashcroft or the kind of Supreme Court justice Bush would appoint if given a chance or the way he has had anyone in his administration fired if they put out a report that they didn’t like or dissented in any way.

  3. Marion McReally May 19, 2005 at 11:22 am

    I vigorously support your extremely logical use of the word “themself” and thank you for using it. The more people use it, the sooner the dictionaries and grammar books will finally admit that it should become accepted as not only correct English but clearly a cut above all other options in sentences like your title and “Everyone talks to themself.”

    Marion McReally
    President
    Society for the Promotion of The Word “Themself”.

  4. NK January 23, 2006 at 11:15 am

    I’m down with Marion in support of the word “themself”, the alternative of “hisself or herself” is unwieldy, ugly and frankly annoying. WE make the language – vive la revolution!

    ps Sorry this has so little to do with Kerry, still at least Iraq turned out so well – d’oh!

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