Evaluating our assertions
To the editor:
As one of the world’s preeminent epistemologists, Christopher Hitchens stated with absolute logic: “What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.”
This is known as “Hitchen’s Razor.” Hitchen’s Razor demands “objective evidence” as proof that something is factual. Consider this. One can believe that God exists, but in order to satisfy the requirement of Hitchen’s Razor, objective evidence must be provided that God exists, which cannot be done. People may say, “Just look at the world that God created!” Logically, can anyone prove that God created the world? We simply cannot prove it objectively. We assert that God created the world but that is very different than proving it with objective evidence. Therefore, since there is no objective evidence that God exists or that God created the world, we can dismiss both assertions. Factually, there is no proof.
In today’s heated political divisions, many assertions are made. Someone may say, “Under President Biden we have record inflation, record high gas prices and are in a bear market.” These assertions are factual — broadly speaking. However, the issue is that people erroneously believe (assert) that President Biden is directly responsible for each of these assertions as well as other problems. These assertions require objective evidence to prove they are factual. So, in accordance with Hitchen’s Razor, unless each assertion can be proved with objective evidence, they can be dismissed as invalid.
Many of the problems affecting the United States are also affecting other countries. We live in a global economy. Our interconnectedness affects all of us. So unless you have been living in a vacuum, you should know that the United States is not the only suffering country. Hence, you simply cannot blame President Biden as the root cause for problems based on non-factual assertions. You may not like him, but that is very different from blaming him for problems when you do not have the facts to prove that he is responsible.
It is incumbent upon the voter to responsibly evaluate all information and assertions in order to form an educated knowledge basis. If you’re watching one TV channel and are not exploring other sources for hard objective evidence, now is the time to become better educated. There are many sources of information in various media formats that provide a more corroborative factual understanding of important issues affecting the United States and other countries.
The objective evidence and the courts have proved that Donald Trump lost the 2020 Presidential Election. Any assertion that Trump won cannot be supported with objective evidence. Trump and his delusional lawyers lost 61 of the 62 Election lawsuits.
If you still believe there is one trace of humility or morality dwelling is the dark souless recesses of Donald Trump, may I suggest reading Mary Trump’s insightful book “Too Much and Never Enough” — How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man.” Another excellent book is Madeline Albright’s “Fascism.” Mary Trump provides the historical evidence that led to the formation of a very mean-spirited failed president while Madeline Albright illustrates the genesis of Fascism and Trump’s Fascist thinking and behavior.
Perspective by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein from the Washington Post, June 5, 2022: “As reporters, we had studied Nixon and written about him for nearly half a century, during which we believed with great conviction that never again would America have a president who would trample the national interest and undermine democracy through the audacious pursuit of personal and political self-interest.” “And then along came Trump.”
The January 6 Committee has gathered and is now presenting “objective evidence” to prove their assertions that Donald Trump and his conspiracy theorists organized the attempted overturn of the 2020 election results. The facts are piling up against the former president.
In closing, there is an abundance of “objective evidence” proving that Donald Trump is a person who exists in a moral vacuum, is a danger to Democracy and should never be president again. He is a narcissist who hates himself for what he is — a loser. Trump sees the world as images formed by a carnival funhouse mirror — a distorted reality. His father, Fred, were he alive, would be wholly disgusted with Donald. Donald lost the 2020 Presidential election. And Fred hated a loser.
Paul Kiefner
Saint Augustine; formerly of Cape Coral