Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions.

From a letter to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp (30 July 1816) by Thomas Jefferson, denouncing the doctrine of the Trinity.

Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus.

Ridicule is a rude social interaction and generally to be avoided.  But when one encounters willful self-delusion and ignorance it does rather become the only position to take.  

The veracity of Jefferson's observation is as true now as ever.  Instead of the theological issue of the trinity, we now have similar theological beliefs in intersectionality, in social justice instead of criminal justice, in AGW, in systemic racism, etc.  Ideas with no empirical evidence or support but widely and willfully believed by the initiated.  

The mere abracadabra of mountebanks calling for equity and no non-conforming thinking and coerced inclusion.  

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