Fallacies

by David King

Fantasy Projection/Contex Imposition

An attempt to impose his own intellectual or moral context on another person by someone who has closed his mind to reality and manufactured a fantasy, then expects (or if he is a tyrant, demands) others to share it and help him sustain it. He ignores the objective realities of the situation, concentrating instead on subjective perceptions that are false. (See the definition of Social Metaphysics.)

"If you were terminally ill, you too would advocate life preservation."

"There are no atheists in foxholes."

I have not been to war and do not presume to judge the mental lifeboats sought by terrified men in the face of incomprehensible horrors. Subject to sufficient stress, the human mind can be tortured into many horrible shapes. On the other hand, while cringing in the foxhole the sincere atheist should realize fully that he does not believe in God: What sort of bloody-minded deity would let the creatures he created perpetrate a situation like his?

Imposition of the Slave Mentality: "Aren't you thankful that they allow this?" [I am expected to limit myself to the context of "their" allowables.] The proper answer is, "No, I am resentful that they forbid other freedoms I should possess."

They behave as though by naming your opinion in advance they will make you unable to alter it: “They have a six-inch knife and have stuck it four inches into me. Should I be thankful they have not shoved it in the final two inches? Or resentful that they have shoved it in four inches?” [I am expected to accept their behavioral context and to judge my situation from within that context.]

"Let 'em eat cake!"



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