Friday, January 09, 2015

No True Muslim

The "No True Scotsman fallacy" goes like this:
Smith: All Scotsmen are loyal and brave. 
Jones: But McDougal over there is a Scotsman, and he was arrested by his commanding officer for running from the enemy. 
Smith: Well, if that's right, it just shows that McDougal wasn't a TRUE Scotsman.
This is idiocy

Just as convention about racism and sexism is supported ultimately by a variation on the fallacious appeal to consequences--if racial or sexual variation in behavior and aptitudes were real it would be bad (or lead to bad things), therefore it (or race itself) does not exist--so too is the "not all Muslims" reflex something that any thinking person, regardless of opinion, should reject.

As one famous Muslim said:



Social justice warriors: all the intellectual depth of a Muhammad Ali, without the humor.

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