It's so full of holes I don't know where to begin. I'll start with this paragraph:
As for the history lesson. The twentieth century is full of examples of people that exploited the fears and insecurity of the massess [sic] to satisfy their own ends. From Hitler in Germany to Pol Pot in Cambodia, there are numerous examples of where the powerful have used propaganda to get the masses to perform their biding.Nonsense. Hitler and Pol Pot both applied a heavy use of coercion to get their way and anything they didn't coerce is the fault of the doer, not the suggester. We only want to see things another way because it is easier. It's easier to imagine one wizard with magical powers could be evil than an entire country. The ease of accepting something has no bearing on the degree to which it is true.
Let's look at another sample.
Mind control is real. The question is as a society what do we want to do about it?No. It isn't. It's unsubstantiated nonsense and a result of magical thinking.
This post is fraught with false assertions an irrelevant appeals. Here's another one:
US elections have become affairs that can be bought.This is not true. It is true that well-funded candidates tend to win. That does not mean that people can buy elections. It means that the American voter is unprincipled enough that he just votes for whoever the advertiser tells him he should. That's not the advertiser's fault, nor is it the fault of the person who is funding the advertisements.
The blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the people who vote that way.
The person who posted the entry in question has made the claim that, for instance, brainwashing is a scientific fact, so coercion is not a sufficient criterion for the determination of wrongdoing.
This claim is both unsubstantiated and irrelevant. True, effective brainwashing typically includes a corresponding physical component. Cults use sleep and food deprivation to cement their grip. Despots use and enforce threats of death, torture, and incarceration to get their way.
Paul, I would recommend that you visit and peruse this site on logical fallacies if you ever hope to convince anyone of anything. I do not feel these discussions are a good use of time and do not wish to continue them.
