Ad Hoc Rationalizations

Many moons ago when I was still wet behind the ears, I studied philosophy, including logic. I learned that there is a list of common logical fallacies that I should be on the lookout for. We all make errors in logic. Usually, these are honest mistakes. We’re just not thinking clearly, or we overlook things that are important. When these mistakes are pointed out to us, the decent thing to do is acknowledge the mistakes and reconsider our position. If we don’t change our position, we should formulate a better argument.

But there was something else I was taught to look out for, and this isn’t exactly a fallacy. It involves deception. I’m referring to arguments based on ad hoc rationalizations. Those who use ad hoc rationalizations aren’t telling you the truth about what’s motivating them. Maybe they think the actual reasons they hold a certain position won’t be persuasive, or maybe they think you will find the actual reasons repugnant, but whatever the cause, they’re not being straight with you. They are being intellectually dishonest.

Ad hoc rationalizations…that’s what sprang to mind when I was listening to the defense of Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage presented to the Supreme Court yesterday. All of this mind numbing crap about how marriage isn’t a “dignity bestowing institution” or some such nonsense, and how straight couples will no longer connect to their kids or each other in the same way if same-sex couples are allowed to marry… These arguments sound strange and ring false because they’re smoke screens. They are ad hoc rationalizations for something that’s mean spirited and low. The real reason for the ban is animus, but you can’t say that the ban should stay in place because a lot of people in Michigan don’t like homos. That wouldn’t make a convincing legal argument in court, so they have to make something up that at least sounds rational.

As a gay man, it is infuriating to sit here and listen to someone who is normally thought of as an upstanding member of the community say, to the Supreme Court of the United States no less, that the reason the state should be allowed to discriminate against those like me is because if they didn’t, straight people may not love their babies as much anymore, that somehow treating those like me fairly would encourage a hedonistic, selfish attitude and that some might not take their family responsibilities as seriously as they do now. That bullshit stinks to high heaven. What kind of asshole would even say something like that?