The best “argument against the man”
Loose Ends, Pop Culture April 23rd, 2007The best “argument against the man” of today…. in the TV series The X-Files, a mysterious visitor explains why a UFO sighting is mistaken but falls into a slight error of argument at the end which rather undermines the whole:
Man in Black: No other object has been misidentified as a flying saucer more often than the planet Venus. Even the former leader of your United States of America, James Earl Carter Jr., thought he saw a UFO once, but it’s been proven he only saw the planet Venus. … Venus was at its peak brilliance last night. You probably thought you saw something up in the sky other than Venus, but I assure you, it was Venus. …. Your scientists have yet to discover how neural networks create self-consciousness, let alone how the human brain processes two-dimensional retinal images into the three-dimensional phenomenon known as perception. Yet you somehow brazenly declare seeing is believing? Mr. Crikenson, your scientific illiteracy makes me shudder, and I wouldn’t flaunt your ignorance by telling anyone that you saw anything last night other than the planet Venus, because if you do, you’re a dead man. The X-Files
Anti Citizen One

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