{"id":4265,"date":"2013-06-21T08:21:13","date_gmt":"2013-06-21T13:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=4265"},"modified":"2013-06-21T08:21:13","modified_gmt":"2013-06-21T13:21:13","slug":"youre-gonna-be-a-hypocrite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=4265","title":{"rendered":"You’re gonna be a hypocrite"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tu quoque<\/em> argument is\u00c2\u00a0 the argument from hypocrisy or inconsistency: S says that p, or that we should do a, but then turns around and says not-p or fails to do a.<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0 It’s usually not clear what the consequences of the tu quoque<\/em> are – either evidence of insincerity, evidence that the proposal is too difficult to follow, or that the person can’t keep his story straight.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve at the NS had a variety of discussions about tu quoque<\/em>, ranging from conditions for its acceptability to the breadth of its form.\u00c2\u00a0 Our best discussion was started by Colin with his observation that sometimes, tu quque<\/em> arguments needn’t be in the form of actual hypocrisy, but rather hypothetical hypocrisy.\u00c2\u00a0 Hence, subjunctive tu quoque<\/em><\/strong>. (See Colin’s post HERE<\/a>) I’ve found a close cousin to the not-actual-but-hypothetically-relevant form for tu quoque.<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0 It’s the predictive tu quoque<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Witness Jonah Goldberg’s recent posting at NRO<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 He says: young voters have supported Obama and his policies overwhelmingly.\u00c2\u00a0 But now that the Affordable Care Act is starting to be implemented, they will be required to buy health insurance — at rates greater than they would have to on other systems.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s because they are keeping the larger system afloat, as they are supporting the old, sick, and dying.\u00c2\u00a0 He predicts that they will then bolt on the issue.\u00c2\u00a0 First, he presents the dilemma.<\/p>\n

You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d insist that millennials are not only informed, but eager to make sacrifices for the greater good.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your chance to prove it: Fork over whatever it costs to buy the best health insurance you can under Obamacare.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then he sarcastically presents the decision:<\/p>\n

[S]ince the fine for not signing up is so much lower than premiums, lots of people will just wait until they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re sick before buying insurance.<\/p>\n

Now, that might be the smart play \u00e2\u20ac\u201d for cynics.<\/p>\n

But you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not cynical<\/strong>. You didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t vote for Obama and cheer the passage of Obamacare because it was the cool thing to do. You did your homework. You want to share the sacrifice.<\/strong> You want to secure the president\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s legacy.<\/p>\n

And now\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your chance to prove it<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think it would be best for these lines to be read out loud.\u00c2\u00a0 When he says “But you’re not cynical,” it has to be delivered with that special tone of voice one has when one’s caught another in a reductio.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s not being hortatory – as though he’s saying: I predict that you will not be cynics.\u00c2\u00a0 No, he’s saying: I expect you to be cynics, as you’ve been cynics all along… because your votes were bought by Obama’s policies regarding student loans and extended coverage under parental health care.\u00c2\u00a0 Now that you have to bear the burden, you’ll resent it.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tu quoque argument is\u00c2\u00a0 the argument from hypocrisy or inconsistency: S says that p, or that we should do a, but then turns around and says not-p or fails to do a.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s usually not clear what the consequences of the tu quoque are – either evidence of insincerity, evidence that the proposal is … Continue reading You’re gonna be a hypocrite<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tu-quoque"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4265"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4267,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4265\/revisions\/4267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}