I read am amusing letter to the editor in the Otago Daily Times yesterday. The writer was discussing the coup in Fiji. Halfway through the letter he expressed outrage at the suggestion that democracy should be preserved. This, he noted, is what George W Bush believes *shock* *horror*.

Here we have a reductio ad Bushium:

Position a) is believed by George W Bush, therefore Position a) is flawed and must be rejected.

Now I knew that many New Zealanders had a pathological dislike for the current White House incumbent but this borders on the ridiculous. I assume that this letter writer is a card carrying member of the flat earth society, afterall George W Bush believes the world is round.

Perhaps the writer should join Al Quaeda, afterall George W Bush has a wee bit of an issue with this organisation so they must be good.

To make matters worse the correspondant went on to suggest that democracy should not be preserved if it meant going to war and people dying. Thank goodness these anti-Bushites were not in control of England and other European countries in 1939. (There was a big war then for the post 1990’s publicly educated)

The writer’s logic entails that we should reject democracy whenever we see a gun.

Tags:   Bad Reasoning · George Bush1 Comment