How many of you just believed every word of that? Probably most of you, right? I'd be willing to bet that at least 90% of you just though "Hey, an eye for and eye really does make the whole world blind!" Now what if I were to say: "An eye for an eye , and you've just taken away some asshole's depth perception.", or "If to take an eye is to lose one, then all our eyes are safer." Both of these make sense too, in a different way, right? So why the hell didn't you think that when you read the first one? How many of you didn't even pause to check the logic? As human beings, we have a lot of cognitive errors, but this one is by far my least favorite.
Just because something is worded somewhat cleverly, wrapped up in a pair of quotation marks, and followed by the signature of someone famous does not make it true!!!!! It's so easy, though, to just fall for whatever we read! In some cases, takes a blatant contradiction of one's beliefs for them to not revere the wisdom of whoever said it. For some, fancy words and an elegant style can make people consider things that, in a real-life context, they'd never even consider believing! Personally, here's my mental checklist for quotes:
1. What is the idea behind it?
2. Do I agree with this idea?
3. If yes, is it insightful, have I learned from it? Maybe I'll use it in the future, because I think it's a very wise point.
4. If no, is it at least well-worded? Does it at least make sense? Did someone famous say it? If so, I can use it in an argument to keep myself from losing, and make some stupid person change their mind just because I used a quote.
Please, people, don't let yourselves be the poor idiots I mentioned in step 4. I know, a well-worded quote can appeal to one's sense of sentimentality. This happens all the time, with speeches, songs, with good books... Anything that sounds good, and strikes a certain note in our brains ---though different things might do it for different people--- can potentially appeal to our emotions. When this happens, it is no longer reason with which we are thinking, we've begun to think with our feelings. We believe things, if only temporarily, that common sense will tell us aren't true! Though many points made and expressed in quotes are wise, valid, and insightful, none of them are the absolute truth, 100% of the time. So the next time you read a quote that gives you anything to believe, don't be foolish. Find the point, and use reasoning to decide if the point is true. Then, you can decide to agree with the quote, make references to the quote, use the quote to argue, set the quote as your facebook status, or whatever you want.
Here's a quote for you.
"With the sole exception of this statement, just because something is inside quotations, doesn't mean it's true."
I hope you all found this post helpful, or at the very least enjoyable. Until the next one, though, au revoire!
-The Ellipsis
-The Ellipsis
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