The philosopher Leo Strauss once spoke of the reductio ad Hitlerum. By this he meant the promiscuous tendency of people to try to score a debating point by comparing their opponents to Hitler. The form of the argument is something like this: "My opponent doesn't like strawberry ice cream. Hitler didn't like strawberry ice cream. My opponent is just like Hitler." Strauss's point was that the reductio ad Hitlerum is the mark of the lazy and illogical mind.
Sure enough, here is Richard Dawkins employing the reductio against me in a recent comment on his website richarddawkins.net. Referring to me and a conservative rabbi named Boteach, Dawkins writes: "It occurs to me that people like Boteach and D'Souza may be honestly unaware that they shriek and yell in such an unbecoming way. Maybe this is just what preachers of a certain kind do. So people who profession is to preach, or who live their lives surrounded by preachers, just don't hear their ugly yells and shrieks as we do. They have become so inured to the preaching style of yelling that the resemblance to Hitler passes them by.
"I'm not suggesting that Boteach and D'Souza have literally damaged their ears. But at a higher cortical level they may have become desensitized through years of preaching, and exposure to preachers, so they don't hear, and literally and honestly don't understand, the strong resemblance to the hideous vocal style of Hitler. Once again, I need to emphasize that the comparison with Hitler is limited to vocal style. Of course nobody is suggesting that either Boteach or D'Souza have similar opinions to Hitler, or resemble him in any other way at all.
"But imagine listening to a Boteach speech or a D'Souza speech or a Hitler speech with no knowledge of English or German. I suspect that you'd hardly notice the difference. Contrast it with a speech by Christopher Hitchens. The voice is strong, even a little thrilling. But there's no hysteria there. The words match the content: measured, thoughtful, strong and powerful but never hysterical."
Had this not appeared on Dawkins' website, I would have thought it parody. But who can bring himself to laugh? Does Dawkins have any idea of how gross it is to compare a rabbi to Hitler on the sole ground that both men had a tendency to raise their voices? If this isn't anti-Semitism at the very least it shows a shocking disregard for what the Holocaust means to Jews. Perhaps the kindest explanation is that Dawkins has a pathological hatred for the clergy, and Boteach is a rabbi.
I, on the other hand, am a scholar and author. Dawkins, who knows this, weirdly insinuates that I am a preacher or spend most of my time with preachers. This couldn't be further from the truth. I have been a secular writer for 20 years and mostly I speak to university audiences and business groups. Moreover, the atheists I debate, like Michael Shermer and Peter Singer and Christopher Hitchens, routinely tell me how effectively I use wit and repartee and rhetorical understatement and learned analogies to make my points. Far from using "yells" and "shrieks," the only time I can recall even raising my voice was during my debate with Daniel Dennett, and this was not because I was upset but only because the microphone was not working properly.
I suspect that Dawkins has come up with this pathetic reductio ad Hitlerum in order to justify his cowardice in not debating me. "I can't debate Dinesh because he will use his Hitler voice to shout me down." Isn't the real problem that Dawkins has used his zoologist's credentials in order to wander into fields (physics, astronomy, history, phiosophy, anthropology, theology) where his knowledge is embarrassingly limited? I suspect he's worried that in a debate I will exposure his ignorance and make him an international object of ridicule.
Why not prove me wrong, Richard? Come out from under your desk and take me up on my invitation to debate. I promise to speak in whispers!
And here's some news from our Department of Atheists Who Aren't Wimps: On Friday July 11, I will debate Christopher Hitchens at the big libertarian conference Freedom Fest in Las Vegas. Our topic is "Christianity, Islam and the War on Terror." For more information go to freedomfest.com or simply click here.
Reader Comments ( Page 28 of 29)
406. Interesting BIG BRAIN hypothesis GHB. Willing for it to be wrong and it's just a bunch of dead lifeless atoms except for the occasional bunch of atoms that are full of life like we are?
What would falsify your hypothesis GHB?
Heck, I eat my own dog food too.
Peter at 2:37PM on Jul 9th 2008
407. Ok, maybe GHB has lost it or someone took over his account: "What is this universe, if indeed God does not exist? I mean, weird things sometimes happen that nothing can really explain. Psychic events. Healing through prayer. ESP. Ghosts. Out-of-body experiences. Sightings of the Blessed Mother. Or the devil. Stigmata. Personal "miracles" and occasional contacts with divinity or consciousness or spirit or SOMETHING that leaves us confused or exultant or suicidal."
Yikes.
No Psychic events are not real. If you think they are there is still a million dollar prize available. Psychic events are just tricks of the mind for the gullible.
" Healing through prayer. ESP. Ghosts. Out-of-body experiences. Sightings of the Blessed Mother. Or the devil. Stigmata. Personal "miracles". - GHB
Nope. Just all mind crap. Mind poo. Doesn't happen. Provide the proof. Show the evidence. It's just in your head or in the popular press.
"occasional contacts with divinity or consciousness or spirit or SOMETHING that leaves us confused or exultant or suicidal."
That's known as an internal brain drug experience which doctors can now reliably induce with low doses of magic mushrooms.
Yes, your god euphoria is just drugs in your brain! Yeah, you're high on god, it's just that your drug is naturally produced cocaine that your brain makes! No wonder your hooked on god - or spirituality or whatever.
Spooky posting GHB.
Peter at 2:57PM on Jul 9th 2008
408. "For me, I was the agnostic almost-atheist that loved science and the scientific method, was completely skeptical of anything that even smacked of the paranormal, then at about age 36 started to get 'signs' or more accurately perhaps jungian type synchronicities in my day-to-day life, synchronicities that I soon realized always related to thoughts expressed when I was in an emotionally excited state, such as when I was joking around with friends. Oh, and since the friends involved saw them too and thought that they were creepy, I know that it wasn't just a delusion. All of this worldview of mine that I have expressed above came about in my mind as a RESULT of my having these experiences and then investigating them with various thought experiments as my tools, all subjective of course, but compelling nonetheless. Very compelling." - GHB
GHB in all seriousness get your brain and body scanned for a tumor which would explain the "signs" aka drastic emotional changes in your life.
Peter at 3:02PM on Jul 9th 2008
409. Peter; I had a dream a while back that seemed to argue for the endurance of the soul beyond death (at least for a short period of time). A recently deceased family member gave me seemingly random and pointless information in the dream. That info gave another family member a lot of peace. I truly believe there is no way I would have known this information, even subconsciously.
Being a natural skeptic, to a fault, I've really turned this one over and over in my head.
It's weird, but I tend to believe GHB's big brain theory.
Ryan Anderson at 3:03PM on Jul 9th 2008
410. Brian, Thanks for your intelligent response. I can understand a lot of the prinicples that you explain. I appreciate the time you took to lay out those principles. I even can agree with the concept of a "vest mind universe theory". It's interesting. What if the only differences between God(s) were the loving mind and the hating minds, all that collective energy. There is a great deal of difference between someone who believes in the principle established by Christ and someone who is bound by having his thinking done for him in organized religious thought. Not all Christians are closed minded. Not all Christians presume to know the will of God and to act upon it as if they were God. I have never damned anyone to Hell. The thought is foreign to me. Keep searching for your truth.
KitCumbie at 3:05PM on Jul 9th 2008
411. "That info gave another family member a lot of peace."
Just to be clear, this part was in real life, not in the dream.
Ryan Anderson at 3:07PM on Jul 9th 2008
412. Peter, you are worthless as an intelligent rational philosophical thinker. I suppose you scream a lot.
Calling people names doesn't make you seem rational or intelligent it just makes you look foolish.
Believe what you wish and stop putting words in my mouth, I haven't condemned you to anything, haven't judged you, and whatever man does in the name of God doesn't necessarily put God's stamp on it. You obviously have suffered some sort of painful experience regarding religion and I am sorry about that. Your hate and your fear will not avail you when you search for peace. You need to learn from some of the other people who have posted here and get a grip on yourself man!
KitCumbie at 3:15PM on Jul 9th 2008
413. Observant, Thank you for your post. I think the major difference in our philosophies is my understand (personal understanding) of what I think Christ wanted for humanity. The Bible can be made to say anything or justify anything. Men wrote the Bible and look where it has gotten us. In my view forgiveness and tolerance of anothers beliefs or actions is everything. Understanding that faith can make us more than we can make ourselves (without it) is important to me. I simply don't think I have the right to hamper anyone else spiritual path. I try to look at things from others perspectives like Christ did. I think we all judge too much. My faith is all about love and acceptance. It's all I know, it's all I have. Try to accept the common ground and forget the details. Is is more important to condemn someone over a 2,000 year old text and the varying differences of opinion about it...or is it more important to do what you can in this world to acheive your own peace and help others acheive theirs.
KitCumbie at 4:31PM on Jul 9th 2008
414. "Botts,
Can you call it "faith" if you just happened to be lucky enough to be given "proof"? " Moke
Moke,
Good question, and I see where you're going with it.
I have knowledge of the existence of the Holy Spirit and God. My faith purely rests on Jesus Christ. I have faith in his Story and resurrection. I have faith in the fact that what he taught can't be disputed ie: If we Love our fellow man, and actually mean it, that there would be zero problems and zero division.
Hey Brandon,
What's up dude? Great to see you. I have to shoot you an email. I've been busy doing some work over here.
Botts at 3:35PM on Jul 9th 2008
415. What would falsify your hypothesis GHB?
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I present it as speculation for that very reason. I can't prove it wrong. Nor can I prove it's right. But I didn't come to it for that reason. As stated in my "BB" speculation above, I started to have bizarre coincidences, things I couldn't explain in the paradigm of science as we know it now. I love science, by the way, and always will. I am a genuine science nerd, have been all my life. Science is the single best technique we've ever come up with to explore our reality. The rigor of thought and the experimental process is invaluable to us as a species. If my "BB" speculation is wrong, then I would suspect that the modern scientific paradigm is the correct one. On the other hand, if my "BB" thing is correct, then science will compliment it nicely, with a few modifications such as to the method of experimentation. But hey, as you are (I think) saying here, it's very subjective. I can't snap my fingers and suddenly have YOU getting the coincidences, so you'd believe in them. To my mind, the only way you can get them, is to allow for them to be possible. Even a little. And then use various subjective mental gymnastic techniques to explore them, as I do now. But absolute disbelief, considering he phenomena that we're exploring IS belief, will kill it every time. One has to be able to "fake" belief temporarily, good enough that you temporarily believe it. I meditate and use visual aids for this. And I always keep one foot on the ground, always conscious of the fact that I may be deluding myself and always conscious of the possibility of my own error. And yet, the concidences continue. Many, many of them. Always seem to relate to something I was recently excited about. Say, something I was discussing in an animated fashion. I can't make them happen, not reliably, but I can observe when they DO happen and trace back what seems to trigger them. It seems to be emotion, not rational thought. Yin side and not yang, if you take my meaning.
Peter, I respect you here. I know you probably think my specualtion is just another religion. I do not think this is accurate. I have unexplained and inexplicable phenomena in my life, things that others see as well, so I know I'm not crazy... What would you do in my position?
Also, and I know that I'm pushing it here, I think you're too quick to condemn kitcumbie, and botts as well. I know they're 'believers' but since their personal interpretation of the philosophy seems not only harmless but even helpful in the world, I cannot condemn them for it, as I can people like Observant that allow their beliefs to cause them to hate and hurt others. I tend to concentrate my "ire" on the hypochrists. I think you'll find that if you do that, the real Christians like Botts and perhaps our new member Kitcumbie, will actually jump to your defense against the hypochrists on occassion. I try to target the hypocrisy, the hypochrists, so when I see a Christian that is not a hypocrite, I can't help but like them. Even though I strongly feel that it is a completely fallacious belief system. After all, if they really believe in the words of Jesus and try to emulate him in this world, how can I fault them? It's a philosophy of acceptance and love, unlike the rest of the damn book... Even if Jesus never lived, those are good words.
But, please do what you feel, as I do. I'm not trying to criticize you. Hell, I need to work on ME first!
Godless Heathen Brian at 3:55PM on Jul 9th 2008
416. If we Love our fellow man, and actually mean it, that there would be zero problems and zero division.
Botts at 3:35PM on Jul 9th 2008
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Well AMEN to that!
Love ya, dude. I wish they were all like you.
Godless Heathen Brian at 4:04PM on Jul 9th 2008
417. Yes, your god euphoria is just drugs in your brain! Yeah, you're high on god, it's just that your drug is naturally produced cocaine that your brain makes! No wonder your hooked on god - or spirituality or whatever.
Spooky posting GHB.
Peter at 2:57PM on Jul 9th 2008
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Peter, I didn't insult you. I liked you just fine, till now. Apparently you're a victim of the same kind of vanity that I hate on the other side. It feels so good to slam someone, doesn't it? When you KNOW you're right, I mean...
Too bad you're an atheist. We don't need the bad press.
Godless Heathen Brian at 4:04PM on Jul 9th 2008
418. GHB in all seriousness get your brain and body scanned for a tumor which would explain the "signs" aka drastic emotional changes in your life.
Peter at 3:02PM on Jul 9th 2008
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Drasatic emotional changes that cause things to happen like when I'm describing my friend's parrot to my wife and son, the exact breed of parrot, a blue and gold macaw, is placed on the shoulder of a government official on the NEWS playing on the TV behind me where I can't see it but they can, while he was giving a speech, as a joke by his friends, thereby freaking out my family... Only ONE example of literally tens of thousands now... Gee, I didn't know my emotional state can cause highly improbable coincidences to happen in the material world around me. Thank you! Where in science does it say that that can happen again? I wanna read up on it.
Godless Heathen Brian at 4:12PM on Jul 9th 2008
419. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/27/294369.aspx
Oh, and I figured I'd google the article on the parrot on the shoulder thing, so you know what was playing on the TV behind me while I was describing the parrot.
Godless Heathen Brian at 4:18PM on Jul 9th 2008
420. Hey here's a thought. If reality is a fractal, then maybe the synchronicities are caused by the seperate events acting as strange attractors due to pattern similarities...
Just a thought.
Godless Heathen Brian at 4:22PM on Jul 9th 2008