The Thinking ‘Kat: Cognitive Failings, P2
One of the biggest truths in life is that if I make a post containing observations, links to evidence, even tables and charts using said evidence, I will invariably draw a response from the cowardly peanut gallery. Derrick Thomas Thiessen has yet again weighed in on one of my posts, and he has rather ironically entitled his post ‘It is All About Truth‘. Indeed it is Derrick, but then, if you such a bastion of honesty and righteousness, why do you continue to not link to my posts, and why do you remain afraid to use my name? Please spare me your dishonest claim that it is because you are not being personal. If you were being professional, as you claim, you would not fear context, nor links.
The most obvious conclusion is because truth is more of a hindrance to Derrick, as opposed to something he values. A cursory glance at his latest ‘response’ shores up this conclusion. To quote:
For the second time this month, a US citizen has been shot dead in dubious circles by over-zealous (and, it would seem, poorly-trained) federal agents. (Meerkat Musings – it really isn’t hard to be transparent Derrick, least of all if you have nothing to hide)
We can tell that this is misinformation because, 1, the writer has had no law enforcement training; 2, the writer has never trained any law enforcement agent; 3, the writer has no clue as to the training standards of US federal agents.
Thus, they are spreading misinformation about the federal agents and lying about their training. That writer also has no way to judge the zealousness of the agents involved or the danger they were facing.
For some of that pesky context Derrick is so afraid of, see here. This is yet another Strawman indulgence, and therefore yet another act of dishonesty from Derrick. I do not need to have training in law enforcement to compare the quality – or lack thereof – of law enforcement training. Derrick has no meaningful understanding of any form of science, analysis or examination of evidence, yet spouts off on these fields on a routine basis; using his logic, he is spewing misinformation all the time, yet you can guarantee this is where his cognitive dissociation will rear its ugly head.
To offer Derrick an olive branch here – because I am about to tip-toe across the same branch – it is possible to do something called ‘research’. In the age of the internet, anyone can look up anything, and I did some research into the quality of law enforcement training. In my post on the subject, I provided sources. Whereas Derrick is quite fond of making vapid, unsubstantiated statements, I do what I can to back up what I say. When I state that ICE agents are poorly trained (and that US law enforcement training is, in general terms, sorely lacking compared to many other developed countries), it is a conclusion based on evidence. This is not to say that I am pretending my conclusion is gospel, but thus far, I have seen nothing from Derrick to suggest I should reconsider my conclusion, save for some very empty, dishonest accusations.
For many years I have written of what I consider to be the folly and failure of US gun control laws (Ibid)
That writer writes from a biased anti-gun position and ignores all the responsible gun owners who do not use their weapons for criminal activity. He does not care about their rights; he just wants his anti-gun position to rule everyone. That is a typical liberal point of view.
Once again we have some serious cognitive malfunctions at play; well, it’s that or further outright lies. I challenge Derrick to find a single post where I have declared I want to force my views on guns – or indeed any of my views – on anyone else. I suspect he will wuss out of this challenge, because Derrick lacks the stones to do so.
Mr Alex Pretti was a legal gun owner, and had a permit to carry, which entitled him to be in possession of his firearm in public in Minnesota. (Ibid)
The writer forgets that Mr. Pretti went to the demonstration intent on killing ICE agents, that he carried several loaded magazines \, and other details that undermine that quoted narrative. It is not just the license that matters here.
Derrick forgets that he has provided zero evidence for his conclusion that Mr Pretti intended to kill anyone. He has made a huge assumption, and is doing so to justify murder. Poor form Derrick, very poor, and yet another bold-faced lie.
Unfortunately, this is indicative of over-zealous, hard-right conservative Christians. Double-standards are all the rage. Hasty conclusions, emotional judgements, and a great deal of deceit are how they operate. In fact, it is fair to assume that if they are accusing someone of lying, of distorting the narrative, and trying to control how others think, that they are in fact guilty of all that behaviour.
Self-reflection does not tend to go hand-in-hand with zealots, so they do not tend to be aware of any of this. A pause in the arrogance, the hypocrisy, and the deception would do them good, but since they are righteous and perfect and know everything about everything, why would they ever come down from their throne, and weigh up that perhaps they are not as all-knowing as God?
‘Kat Comments