Five Skeptical Quotes for Our Times

<p>I admit up front that it can be kind of didactic and moralizing to shove quotes under someone&rsquo;s nose. That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m going to do all that quote nose-shoving in one article and get it out of my system.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s just that sometimes I come across a pithy saying that seems to neatly sum up something going in my life or in the world. &ldquo;Pithy&rdquo; is a great word &mdash; the core, the pit, the essentials. I&rsquo;m putting on my&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pith_helmet" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">pith helmet</a>&nbsp;and listing a few favorites.</p> <h2>Quote 1</h2> <p><em>Truly, whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.&nbsp;</em><a href="https://ballandalus.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/voltaire-d-1778-on-injustice/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Voltaire</a></p> <p>Do you believe that the government is preparing to round up citizens and put them in prison camps; or that politicians are murdering children and drinking their blood; or that anyone who disagrees with your views is a pedophile?</p> <p>There&rsquo;s an entire media world devoted to making people believe these things. If they succeed, then some believers will grab a gun and go after alleged evildoers. That&rsquo;s why the extreme right-wing propaganda machine is no joke &mdash; it&rsquo;s a threat. Voltaire had it right.</p> <h2><strong>Quote 2</strong></h2> <p><em>Reasoning will never make a Man correct an ill Opinion, which by Reasoning he never acquired.&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.online-literature.com/swift/religion-church-vol-one/7/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Jonathan Swift</a></p> <p>If you ever lost a friend or family member down a cult rabbit hole, something like Swift&rsquo;s thought has likely occurred to you. It&rsquo;s almost impossible to change someone&rsquo;s mind with logic if they didn&rsquo;t use logic to get to their current opinion.</p> <p>We all have a tendency to believe things for reasons of group identity and preferred narratives. It takes an effort of will to follow facts to a conclusion rather than the other way around.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/healthy-skepticism/five-skeptical-quotes-for-our-times-50fbbb928e80"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>