Preschool Ruined My Life

Sophistry is humming and thriving. As a Patriot that makes me angry.

My anger is about a form of sophistry relying on intellectual dishonesty which - as I look over issues of obligation, politics, science, culture, and history – is rampant. When I hear ignorant, pandering and self-serving comments from liberals or conservatives or about the decency of the Confederates and evils of Sherman, or from Birthers, religious fundamentalists, the NRA, PETA, Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh my blood boils. Most of what is concupiscence as insightful punditry is really intellectually dishonest sophistry.

Sophistry is practiced without restraint in the capitals, boardrooms, and talk-tainment centers across the United States. Today, society labels sophists as pundits, spin-doctors, administrative hacks, partisans, commentators and consultants. Their role is to create an "argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading, unusually one devised deliberately to be so". Their goal is not the truth but rather the perception of "truthiness" in order to maintain control, power and prosperity. The goal of a modern Sophist is to take the truth and rebrand it so that it undermines all legitimate democratic debate.

Following 9/11, the citizens of the Cooperative States came together against a common enemy. However, as the Bush administration moved us towards war, responsible and legitimate questions were raised. The national Sophists in this country responded to these questions not with answers but with rhetoric and hyperbole that undermined the legitimacy of the people asking arguable questions. The goal was to discredit the individual by questioning their loyalty, integrity or motivation with intentionally disingenuous responses that didn't hail the concerns being raised. This is more than politics, it is a distortion of the truth in order to mislead the citizenry. It is treason.