Difference between revisions of "Dishonesty"

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Deceit

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-'''Dishonesty''' is the misrepresentation of the truth.  Dishonesty can be used for many purposes, some more innocent, some more destructive. Lying, or explicit misrepresentation, is a subset of dishonesty.
+#REDIRECT [[Deceit]]
-By general consensus on such respected forums as Conservapedia, dishonesty may be understood as the promotion of any rationally-based argument that conflicts with the webmaster's opinions. Thus, the most effective weapon against dishonesty is the use of techniques that divert an opponent's attention away from the facts in a well-intentioned attempt to squeeze in subjective arguments favorable to the webmaster's own political agenda. The correlation between dishonesty and liberalism is always at least 95%.
-== Conservapedia and dishonesty ==
-Conservapedia writes:
-{{cquote|"[[Conservatives]] teach that dishonesty is wrong.<ref>For example, conservatives teach that "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." [http://biblescripture.net/Commandments.html]</ref>  [[Liberals]] do not teach that dishonesty is wrong.<ref>''See, e.g.'', ''Stone v. Graham'', 449 U.S. 39 (1980) (the Supreme Court ordering removal of the [[Ten Commandments]] from display in public schools).</ref>
-<references/>}}
-This is one of Andy Schlafly's favorite contentions.  He has gone to great lengths to preserve this argument against outside influence, going so far as to frequently re-define the meaning of "dishonesty" to avoid any creationist or conservative from being labeled as dishonestyful.
-== Forms of dishonesty ==
-Dishonesty can take many forms.
-===Dishonesty by omission===
-This is when something that might have been expected to be included with information provided is not.  One reason courts expect us to testify to the "whole truth" is to prevent us from dishonesty by omission.
-Example:
-*Betty: "Where did my boyfriend go?"
-*Jim: "Outside for some air"
-*Jim knows Betty's boyfriend is outside trying to talk the panties off Betty's best friend, but leaves that information out.  He is deceiving by omission to "protect" his buddy.
-===Dishonesty by misrepresentation===
-This is very common in advertising, whether subtle or blatant.
-Example:
-A car ad in which the owner is depicted in beautiful "getaway" surroundings, being fawned over by a beautiful sex object.
-Example:
-"These pills have been clinically proven to increase your hair growth/penis size/weight loss."
-*oversimplification: Understating the complexity of a critical point in someone's argument in order to make something seem self-evident. Often accompanied by abuse of [[Occam's razor]].
-===Dishonesty by "forgetfulness"===
-A favorite when testifying before Congressional committees.
-Example:
-*"Mr. Gonzalez, what is your name?"
-*"Um, sir, I don't recall ever being at a meeting where that subject came up"
-=== Dishonesty via "plausible deniability"===
-This is when a person, typically a high level executive, tries to make sure there is no trail of evidence that can prove that they actually knew what actions their subordinates were taking, in spite of the probable fact that they did approve of them.  [[Ronald Reagan]] was a master of this technique; [[Holocaust denial|Holocaust deniers]] often use a form of it to get [[Hitler]] off the hook for a mass murder they claim never happened in the first place.
-===Dishonesty by misdirection===
-*"Whose truth?"  One way to deceive is to use misdirection to distract someone from the facts at hand.  One way of doing this is to question the nature of truth itself.
-*Change of topic:  Directing someone's attention to another issue is another form of dishonesty.  Sometimes referred to as the "Look, a bear!" tactic.
-===Dishonesty by censorship===
-Saying something, then silencing all dissenting viewpoints to create the illusion that there is no disagreement.  Popular with talk radio, magazines' letters columns, and [[Conservapedia]].
-===Dishonesty by misquotation===
-In this form, an argument is presented using what appears to be a quote from an authority or involved party, which is not complete, or taken out of context.  See [[quote mining]] for examples.
-===Dishonesty through statistics===
-Mark Twain wrote, there are "Lies, damned lies, and statistics".
-Statistics can be misinterpreted, incomplete, or inconclusive, and yet they carry the rhetorical weight of "hard numbers".  For examples see [[Conservapedia:Schlafly_Statistics|Schlafly Statistics]].
-===Dishonesty by obfuscation===
-That's a completely separate article in and of itself.
-===Dishonesty by revisionism===
-This is when supporting evidence that did not exist is created, by "revising" history to reflect what is argued by its supporters.  An example is the rejection of [[same-sex marriage]] by individuals who insist that the "one woman and one man" marriage was the most common form of marriage throughout history, despite the anthropological evidence showing that it was actually [[polygamy]].
-This can also entail making a [[straw man]] version of an opponent's view, which is easily defeated.
-===Dishonesty by propaganda===
-In this form, a person uses media typically used for entertainment.  By cloaking their rhetoric in the guise of entertainment, the audience is unlikely to actually give the material the critical analysis that it deserves.  A good example is the pilot episode of ''Eli Stone'' where the main character takes the case of a mother of an autistic child suing a company for using a mercury-based preservative in their vaccinations.  Completely ignoring the real world, the show created a greedy corporation that refused to remove the mercury-based preservatives from their vaccines, despite having internal investigations that showed a (fictional) risk of autism due to their preservative. So convincing was that fictional data that the CEO of the company refused to inoculate ''his own child'' with one of their company's vaccines.
-This technique is fairly typical of other faith-based TV programming as well, where right-wing rhetoric is reaffirmed to audiences, who are already watching because the story has a "Christian" theme.  This is sometimes known as the "wave shiny things at them" tactic.
-==Dishonesty in the Bible==
-Perhaps one of the best examples of dishonesty is [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2027:1-40;&version=31; this example], found in the book of Genesis in the [[Bible]].  In these verses, Isaac, one of the primary patriarchs of the Israelites (as well as of the Jews, Muslims, and Christians), instructs his first-born son, Esau, to prepare some food so that Esau may then receive the blessing of the first-born.  Esau leaves to hunt and Rebekah, Isaac's wife who overheard the charge given to Esau, prepares food for Jacob (Esau's twin, born second of the two and another primary patriarch in Judeo-Christian tradition), dresses him in goatskin (since Jacob is smooth-skinned and Esau is hairy), and sends him before Isaac to dishonestyfully receive the blessing of the first-born in Esau's place.  Isaac is old and has gone blind, but is convinced by the food and by the hairiness of Jacob's goatskin disguise and gives Jacob the blessing of the first-born.  Esau returns and Isaac eventually learns of the dishonesty, but the blessing cannot be undone--Esau, the rightful first-born receives a minor blessing and a legacy of scorn and Jacob, whose name is later changed to Israel, goes on to become the father of the 12 tribes of Israel and ancestor of Jesus Christ.
-==See also==
-*[[Logical fallacy]]
-[[Category:Conservapedia]]

Difference between revisions of "Dishonesty"

Latest revision as of 13:59, July 6, 2008

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