Circular Logic
Posted: March 17th, 2006, 2:43 pm
I am the president, therefore, I am the president.
What's so hard to understand?
Circular Logic
for release 04-18-06
Washington D.C.
One of my favorite Bushisms is the one he used during the 2000 election when a reporter would question him about his reputed past drug use and drinking. He would say, "When I was young and stupid, I was young and stupid." It was his little quip to evade the question.
This is typical of George Bush's circular logic. It's also imperial logic. If the Emperor says something, it instantly becomes the truth. Why? because the Emperor said it of course.
Tautology
''The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al-Qaeda is 'because there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda''. Bush July 2004
Usually when Bush delivers this type of tautology, he pauses to give a smirk that seems to say, "aren't I clever?" Or maybe he's saying to himself, "Karl told me that one would stop 'em in their tracks." A tautology (which I prefer to call a 'tautism' because it rhymes with autism) will always stop an argument because it is a statement that seeks to prove itself by simple repetition.
In logic, a tautology is a statement that is always true within itself. It is the ultimate example of thinking within the box. A tautology may be true within it's own universe, but in the universe at large it might not hold true.
If you say, "The sky is blue because it is blue and therefore the reason that it is blue is because it exists in a state of blueness," you have told me absolutely nothing because you haven't said anything in the first place and then you repeated it. The statement may be true, but it's premise that the sky is blue may not be true. It may be gray that day. A tautology is only ultimately true when it's basic premise is true.
If you say, "The war in Iraq was justified because it was the right thing to do." or "We are winning the war because we will not quit," these statements may be true within themselves, but they might not be true when matched against the facts of the larger universe. Make no mistake, we live in the larger universe.
When the president tells you that Harriet Miers is one of the country's best jurists because she is my lawyer and I only hire the best because I am the president, it gives you an idea of what kind of insular universe that these people live in, and how they think in circles.
In Bushland, the mission was accomplished and democracy is taking hold in Iraq. In the larger universe, 2300 more Americans have died since Mission Accomplished and the country is in a more chaotic condition than it was under Saddam.
This tendency toward tautism, seems to be the defining characteristic of this whole administration. They think that by the very act of saying something and then saying it again and again, it becomes the truth. When Scott McClellan refers to 'our strategy for victory in Iraq,' and refers to it again and again, it's almost as if they actually Have a strategy for victory. It's magic. Rummy is also a master of it. In fact he is the very Socrates of circular tautology.
"First rule of politics: you can't win unless you're on the ballot. Second rule: If you run, you may lose. And, if you tie, you do not win."--Rummy
or:
"The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." --Rummy on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
and how about this one:
"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know." Rummy
With such teachers, it's no wonder that Bush has become an almost unconscious adept at tautology. He can dash off gems like this:
"it's a myth to think I don't know what's going on. It's a myth to think that I'm not aware that there's opinions that don't agree with mine, because I'm fully aware of that."—Bush, Philadelphia, Dec. 12, 2005
"He was a state sponsor of terror. In other words, the government had declared, you are a state sponsor of terror."—Bush,On Saddam Hussein, Manhattan, Kan., Jan. 23, 2006
Now Bush is older, he has gained experience and he's had good coaches but he's still stupid. He has to be stupid not to see the train wreck that his government has become.
The Poet's Eye notices, When you are old and stupid, you are old and stupid. And if you get older, you'll probably get stupider.
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There’ll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
--Joni Mitchell
not yet