Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
How are y’all doing today? I hope you’re well, and by the way, thanks for being here! I have the best listeners EVER and I’m so grateful for you! It gives me hope for humanity when I see people who care about the truth, who care about thinking well, who aren’t carried away by emotionalism and who are actively working to love God with their minds. It makes my heart happy!
Ok, so let’s start off by reviewing a fallacy we covered earlier this season, The Big Lie. The Big Lie is when someone or some organization tells a story or a narrative that is actually an extreme distortion of the truth. It is specifically used as a propaganda technique to get people to believe something that is blatantly false.
Honestly, it can be difficult to spot when someone is telling a Big Lie, which is why we need to be really good at asking ourselves the question: “Is that really true?” Yep, that’s the simple question to help you combat the Big Lie: “Is that really true?”
If you want to review or hear more about this fallacy, go back in Season 1 & check out Episode 101.
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Alright, let’s dive into today’s new fallacy, the Argument by Pigheadedness. The Argument by Pigheadedness happens when someone just flat-out refuses to listen to, consider or respond to the other side’s argument or evidence, choosing instead to cling to their belief out of sheer stubbornness. This is sometimes called The Invincible Ignorance Fallacy and it’s used as sort of an anti-argument strategy where the person just takes a break from reality and basically sticks their fingers in their ears says, “LaLaLaLa I don’t care what you say, I’m not changing my mind, even if I’m wrong.”
Here’s a simple example of what this sounds like: Andrew is putting a puzzle together, but he’s doing it upside down. His sister, Kaylynn, comes in and asks why he’s doing it upside down. Andrew says, “It’s not upside down, this is how it’s supposed to look!” To which his sister holds up the puzzle box and shows him the picture right side up. Andrew immediately closes his eyes and says, “I don’t care about that box, this is how it’s supposed to go!” Ok, can you see the pigheadedness, or the stubbornness? He refused to even look at the evidence behind his sister’s argument and instead just went on believing whatever he wanted to believe.
The problem behind the Argument by Pigheadedness is that it’s a non-argument. It’s the anti-argument. By refusing to engage, they basically end the conversation and go on believing whatever they want. And, honestly, it’s flat-out foolish. It’s foolish to not be willing or able to listen to another person’s argument and consider its merits. You have to be pretty insecure in your ability to think or in the solidity of your own argument if you can’t even consider another side to it. Or maybe they just hold the opinion because they’ve been told they should hold that opinion, but they don't really know WHY they believe what they believe and they know they can’t defend it. Or maybe they’re caught up in Emotionalism.
The more emotionally hijacked a person is, the less they’re able to think well about things. The reality is, you can’t reason with a person in this state. If someone isn’t willing to at least listen to other arguments or see new evidence, you really can’t have any sort of productive conversation with them. Proverbs 18:2 says it this way: “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.” and that perfectly sums up the Argument by Pigheadedness.
You may have seen videos online where people do this. For instance, I’ve seen videos of pro-life advocates go to college campuses or out on the street and try to show people actual pictures of unborn babies in the womb to show them what they look like and that they’re more than just “clumps of cells”, and it’s always amazing to me to see some people who completely refuse to even look at the pictures. They sometimes start yelling, or attempt to rip up the pictures, anything to avoid seeing evidence that goes against what they believe about the nature of unborn babies.
So, the question to ask yourself if someone is committing the Argument by Pigheadedness is this: “Are they even open to hearing new arguments?” *repeat*
Alright, that’s it for today. Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
