Fallacy #9 -- Texas Sharpshooter

If you want to start a war, this is an industrial strength logic fallacy, the Texas Sharpshooter.  The name comes from the idea that someone can shoot three or so bullets into the side of a barn, then go and paint a bull's-eye to contain the bullet holes.  When I was younger, in art class and faced with the blank page yips, I used to just do a non-descript doodle, then I would dress it up with a face, body, and appendages.  Sometimes it looked OK.

Two notable, historically significant instances come to mind.  Virtually everything that FDR said and did, no matter how oddball or self-serving, had had an ever widening bull's-eye.  A specific case, for example, was when he encircled two bullet holes, the one where he told American mothers that he would never send their sons to war, unless it was the last resort, and his announcement of the Pearl Harbor attack, characterizing it as the goad to calling the last resort.  Then he neatly included the Japanese-American concentration camps, the promotion of the United Nations, the buddying up to Stalin, and the betrayal of Eastern Europe within the scope of his marksmanship.

The second case involved the entire drumbeat for war against Saddam and Iraq; WMD, hoax evidence, the deck of cards, the aluminum tubes, the yellowcake affair, ad infinitum.  In my view, this case arose from an ideological oligarchy who took pages from the books of neo-cons throughout history -- the Judases, the Iagos, the Alexander Hamiltons, all the evil whisperers in the ears of kings.

I also have four cats, who will always act, no matter how ridiculous their behavior, as though the stupid thing they did was exactly what they meant to do.  They bear a strong resemblance, in that regard, to Dick Cheney and/or Joe Biden -- neither would renege a lie for love nor money.

The fish tale is another, more human and usually far less damaging version of this fallacy.  The size of the fish that got away is whatever will fill the bull's eye.  Actually, the artful collection of unrelated facts into a grand lie is the very essence of politicking.

Sometimes this looks OK.  It is not until blood and treasure has been spilled in copious amounts that a few critical thinkers begin to see the scam.

If you doubt that this outrageous fogging of good people's minds runs long and deep, think about almost any "New Deal" initiative.  Ask yourself, when will the United Nations become obsolete?

 -- Jim Carigan
June 28, 2014