Their Madness, Not Ours
By CRAIG MONTESANO (Editor’s Note: Craig Montesano is a lobbyist and Catholic writer who serves as a lector at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C.) + + + People out to gain your consent to their bad ideas, or bad behavior, often employ a clever device. They start off by stating a premise that appeals to common sense and then, quick as a wink, use terms to manufacture an artificial consensus for their errors. It is a time-honored rhetorical and polemical tool that can be found everywhere from Shakespeare’s plays to the editorial page of USA Today. And while we would expect politicians and activist scientists to be practiced in its use, it is disturbing to see how skilled certain…Continue Reading