Superrationale

In Guantanemo prison, when a detainee is able to obtain legal representation for a writ of habeas corpus (according to an NPR report this week), if the prisoner wins there is a policy that he is tried three or four more times until he loses.

Translation: you're guilty because we say you're guilty.

The report came out this week that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons development program in 2003. President Bush, echoing his father's famous quote "Don't bother me with the facts" said that the report was evidence that Iran is dangerous and that nothing has changed toward them.

Translation: Iran is dangerous because we say it is.

A common logic fallacy is called appeal to authority. It has several shades, but in general it goes like this: person A is perceived as an authority; person A says that X is true; therefore X is true. The fallacy is obvious.

Each of the beginning situations are examples of the fallacy.

I understand that a lot is at stake here. The Bush administration has a lot invested in its war on terror. There are a lot of policies, procedures, and beliefs based on it. Much of its culture-building throughout the administration is geared toward furthering the fear of terrorists and the need to fight them. If something shows up that knocks out a supporting pillar it all comes crashing down. For the structure to fall would leave Bush and Co devestated, especially this late in the presidency when there is little time to rebuild anything. Eternal disgrace is just not an option, therefore something -- anything -- needs to be done to ward off potential threats to the legitimacy of its policies.

Unfortunately, even after so many investigations that have brought legitimate objections to administration claims and so much spin that we're too dizzy to settle on a reality, rationalizations such as above are just too bald to believe. A rationalization is a psychological defense mechanism designed to conform reality to one's preconceived notions, beliefs, or agendas and ward off challenges that would destroy it. The biggest problem with saying reality is other than what it is, is that it doesn't change reality. You're fighting a battle that you won't win. You're wasting time and breath and energy and resources trying to bend reality with no hope of success. Imagine if we put all those resources toward decreasing poverty or enriching education instead!

Rationalization is normal. Super-rationalization happens when you fail to include morality, emotion, and spiritual guidance. Many dictators in history have believed in ethnic cleansing; it made perfect sense to them. They were even able, in most cases, to couch their belief in religious terms for substantiation. It borders on the diagnosis of delusion, which is having a fixed belief (not open to reason) that has no basis in reality and can be easily debated with logic (though the delusional person cannot be swayed).

People rationalize every day. Nearly everybody. What bothers me about the Bush administration doing it like they have this week is that if they get their way then more people will die. More tax dollars will go to this insane path of destruction that is the hallmark of this administration. More hatred and division will be manufactured in the world. The opportunity for using nuclear weapons is inched closer to, or the probability that they will be used becomes greater.

If the American people are so resourceful that they can develop a space program and land a man on the moon within the space of ten years, surely they are strong and resourceful enough to relieve of office a president and administration that drains the nation's resources in their determination to hate someone and obliterate them. It has gone on too long. We're tired. Too many are dead. We want our civil liberties back. We want our tax dollars to go to the common welfare within our borders. We want world-class leadership and statesmanship, not paranoid bullies with an army. If our leaders cannot be convinced that what they're doing is harmful and destructive then they no longer need to be considered leaders. Unless we want to be led into destruction. Despite what we've been told, the collective citizens of our nation are stronger than the presidential administration, even with the army backing them up.