Conservapedia:Concepts
From RationalWiki
One of the more common argumentation styles on Conservapedia is the frequent generalization of a concept, or expression of it at a high level of abstraction, and then assigning this concept, if positive, to creationists, or if negative, to liberals. When pressed on the nature of their argument, or the tenuousness of the link, or other logical fallacies, the Conservapedia editors either:
- Respond with some of their more ridiculous arguments, or,
- Redefine the concept at a more specific level of abstraction, to have a closer (yet still attenuated) fit the actual evidence, or,
- Ignore the criticism.
Some examples are below.
Contents |
[edit] Deceit
Andy famously declared that only liberals commit deceit, because there is no incentive for conservatives to lie.
[edit] Mockery
Ed Poor has claimed here that "liberals always do this." This despite frequent teasing and baiting of liberals on Conservapedia. Example.
[edit] Faith
Andy also stated that only Christians have a concept of faith in God. Aside from the many ethnocentric & racist problems with this statement, as argued here, please reference the same page when noting that the concept of "faith" was defined by Andy sufficiently specifically so as to become a tautology. In essence, the argument reduced to "Only Christians have a Christian conception of faith," an idea that is... not too groundbreaking. However, the argument remains on the main page (in starts & fits, depending on the status of the revert war) that only Christians have faith in God, further proof of Conservapedia's bumper-sticker level of intellectual depth.
[edit] Ability to Resist Worldly Power
One of the most prominent features of the otherwise good (for Conservapedia's standards) article on the first President is the claim that George Washington was the first person in the world since Jesus to decline massive worldly power. Although the debate on this has largely been won, for the side of reason, Andy pushed the claim for quite some time.
The reasons for why this claim is outrageous are listed and sourced here, but in short, the citizen-soldier who declines power is a popular Roman motif, making Washington still obviously remarkable, but not in the sole company of Jesus. The legendary Cincinnatus (see Livy, The Histories, Book I) was the original model for the heroism and integrity of this action... whose model Washington deliberately emulated (see the Byron poem here). Diocletian is an example of a Roman leader who followed in this model, but Andy has refuted the significance of this action[citation needed] on the grounds that Diocletian suffered from a stomach disease, and thus his decline of power is not as significant. However, it should be noted that one of the reasons for Washington's refusal to run for President a third time was his own failing health, and goal of not dying in office.[citation needed]
Any reference to Diocletian has been pulled from the article.
