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’s nose. That’s why I’m going to do all that quote nose-shoving in one article and get it out of my system.</p>
<p>It’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. “Pithy” is a great word — the core, the pit, the essentials. I’m putting on my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pith_helmet" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">pith helmet</a> and listing a few favorites.</p>
<h2>Quote 1</h2>
<p><em>Truly, whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. </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’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’s why the extreme right-wing propaganda machine is no joke — it’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. </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’s thought has likely occurred to you. It’s almost impossible to change someone’s mind with logic if they didn’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>