One cannot debunk conspiracy theories with logic or evidence. Logical arguments only demonstrate one’s conformity to the mode of thinking that the conspiracy theory seeks to unseat. All evidence contrary to the conspiracy theory is perceived as evidence of the conspiracy’s existence. The durability of conspiracy theories is predicated upon such circular reasoning.
Category: knowledge
Credulity
If one does not understand what an evidence-based argument is, then one can potentially be convinced of the veracity any truth claim, especially if it resonates with one’s chosen beliefs.
Science and oppression
I have noticed a number of African thinkers who present themselves as African-centered, as advocates of re-Africanization, who emphasize the imperative of us reclaiming our culture and restoring our sovereignty, while also positing Western science as the path to our redemption. I am puzzled as to how an appreciation of the former does not generate a more critical view of the latter position. Dr. Jacob H. Carruthers’s essay, Science and Oppression offers a very concise, yet incisive critique of this. Given that state of the world–the loss of species, global warming, ecological degradation, and the like–clearly the “master’s tools”, the products of Western culture, are they themselves reflective of a broader cultural ethos of alienation. Hence, the need to move beyond the tepid ground of “decolonization” to the imperative of Africanization and the revitalization of African “sciences” as tools of knowledge construction, cultural reorientation, and ecological restoration.
Ideologies
Ideologies, by their very nature, delimit engagement with the phenomenal world.
Echo chambers
One of the things that continually intrigues me about social media is how truth claims are held to be intrinsically valid within their echo chambers of congruence. Such a phenomenon preceded social media and the internet, yet the former has greatly exacerbated it.