Quote:
Originally Posted by Easy 6
Its pretty hilarious that some people want to slam my "appeal to the authority" of people like the highest military officer in the US, or the head of the CIA... but then they turn right around and quote Neil Tyson as a rebuttal.
If "appeals to authority" are good enough for them, they're good enough for me.
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You apparently don't understand what "appeal to authority" means.
To say "Aliens from other planets have visited Earth, and the proof I offer is that these smart guys said so", THAT IS AN APPEAL TO AUTHORITY. You offer no evidence. You offer no logical argument. You say it must be true because these authority figures said so.
When I quote Neil DeGrasse Tyson saying "The U in UFO stands for UNIDENTIFIED" and "Just because you can't identify what it is, that doesn't mean it's SPACE ALIENS", I am NOT saying "It's not true because Neil DeGrasse Tyson says it's not true".
I am saying "Hey, Neil DeGrasse Tyson just made a pretty good point. I find his argument to be convincing, not because Neil DeGrasse Tyson said it, but because it makes logical sense". That is NOT an appeal to authority. That is simply giving proper credit to an idea that I have heard, evaluated, and decided that I agree with.
I could just as easily have omitted any reference to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and my argument wouldn't change one iota. My argument would still be "Just because you can't identify it, that doesn't automatically mean a space alien did it". If you omit your references to high-ranking military officers and the head of the CIA, your argument completely falls apart. There is nothing left.
Do you see the difference?