POLITICAL EXPLANATIONS

I came up with these four years ago and posted them on social media.   They still are true.

A. “Most cops do not engage in police brutality” is no justification for those who do. Full stop.

B. “Most protesters are peaceful” is no justification for those who engage in violence. Period.

C. “Crimes against (people of a given race or ethnicity) are mostly committed by members of their own race/ethnicity" is not a legitimate response to people committing violence against persons of a different race- OR vice versa.

D. “Most corporations aren’t polluters” is no justification for those who are. End of story.

E. “Most gun owners are responsible” is no justification for impunity for the irresponsible. No if’s or buts about it.

F. None of the above, or their analogs, shall be an allowable explanation of any of the others.

I could go on, but you probably get the picture. No deflection, no excuses. Neither false equivalence, nor false difference. As my momma always told me, “don’t be a yabbit rabbit.” Do. You. Understand?

THE LAW OF DECISIVITY

"The road of life is paved with flat squirrels who couldn't make a decision."- Author unknown

DE VRIES' LAW AND CROTTY'S REJOINDER

DeVries' Law: Everybody needs an editor.  (Lloyd De Vries)

Crotty's Rejoinder to DeVries' Law: Every editor needs a proofreader, too, maybe two.  (David Crotty)

(The Philatelic Communicator, Vol. 49, 4th Quarter 2015, page 3)

ROBINSON'S RULE

"Ideology is like breath: you never smell your own."- economist Joan Robinson, quoted by Stephen Pinker: https://twitter.com/sapinker/status/563353225449832449

SHIFFMAN'S LAW

"Effectively thinking outside of the box requires some knowledge of where the box's boundaries are and why they are there."- Dr. David Shiffman

https://twitter.com/WhySharksMatter/status/661937884254089216

McRANEY'S LAW

McRANEY'S LAW: People don't know themselves very well.  Rather, they know their opinions of themselves very well.  (David McRaney, author of the book, "You Are Not So Smart")

THIEME'S LAWS

"Even if you know that 95% of a story is true, but you have to know which 95% it is in order to have the keys to the code." - Anonymous NSA agent, quoted by author Richard Thieme.

Corollary: "Fiction is the only way you can tell the truth, sometimes."

"When you think you have an original idea or see something brand new, just publicize it.  You'll find out that a million other people have already had it." - author Richard Thieme.

LEARY'S LAW

"You never get the truth from the company memo."- Attributed to Timothy Leary, quoted by author Richard Thieme.