Magical Thinking Vs. Logical Thinking

Are you under a spell? Do you think for yourself? Most people are under the impression they can not be manipulated, "played", or told what to think and do. But, the reality is more people than not are not logical, realistic thinkers. The best example of magical is found in our educational institutions. Long tenured professors that have spent their entire lives in the sheltered realm of classrooms and books. They may certainly have have book knowledge, but they lack an understanding of the outside world and how things really work. You see, "magical thinking" consists of ideas that only work in or on the mind. The entire premise of magic is the manipulation of the environment one finds themselves in. Therefore whatever goal that one person, or group of people, may want to reach can be attained through methods such as lying, omitting facts, playing on emotion, or manipulating outcomes to "prove" their faulty or dishonest argument for their intended goal. Upon further investigation and logical deduction, their claims can easily be shown to be false.

Logical thinking on the other hand, has it's feet planted solidly in facts and is easily proven, one still must have the ability to use not only logic, but reasoning as well. To pull an example from recent headlines, let's use gun control as an example. Not because it is controversial, but because it is a damn good example of the two schools of thought. The magical thinkers are pushing for gun control. They are using emotional tactics, blatantly wrong statistics, while completely ignoring easily provable facts. Let's break down each point:

1.) Too many people are getting killed by guns - A straight up, obvious lie. Logic and science both dictate that inanimate objects can not take ANY action by themselves. Upon investigation of annual statistics ( google search of "annual deaths related to medical industry" provided many links similar to this one), we discover the startling fact that the third leading cause of American deaths (behind cancer and heart disease) is not related to any type of firearm, or any other weapon for that matter. It is medical malpractice. Even wikipedia has violent deaths listed in 32nd place. The stats show that the medical industry is killing "too many people". We will call this a lie with heavy misdirections and omissions.

2.) Assault weapons are weapons of war - This statement by any thinking is provable. Unfortunately for the magically minded, it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Fully automatic assault rifles, rocket launchers, manpads, grenades, tanks, mortars, are all weapons of war. They also are not made available to the general public through licensed gun dealers. An AR-style weapon is not the same gun as the M16, which not only operates in semi-auto mode, but is also capable of 3 round bursts, and full on auto. They can also accept a wide variety of "add-ons" for more specialized uses.
We will classify this a play on emotion/omission of fact.

3.) We need more laws/backgound checks to keep the guns out the hands of fill in the blank - This argument on it's face is laughable for any logical thinker. Do you see how this argument is in-congruent with argument #1? This argument is an admission that people shoot guns. In the above argument they infer that guns themselves kill people.
In reality, gun laws are suspect at best. Criminals have guns. That's an indisputible fact. The only way around this fact is total denial of reality, which is one of the pillars of magical thinking. Any rational, thinking, and sane person knows that laws are only as good as the people that follow them. Speeding, theft, DWI, and murder are illegal yet thousands of people are convicted of these crimes every year. Are we expected to believe that gun laws are immune to circumvention? Operation Fast and Furious leaps to mind. We will file this argument under absolutely absurd.

4.) The second Amendment is not an unlimited right to own guns - Yes, it is. Uninfringed, like it or not, means "to commit a breach or infraction of; violate or transgress: to infringe a copyright; to infringe a rule. verb (used without object), infringed, infringing. 2. to encroach or trespass (usually followed by on or upon):" thereby making ALL gun laws unconstitutional. We will file this under lie.

5.)More gun control laws would reduce gun deaths - By making them "less accessible"? While it could be logically argued that by reducing access to guns there will be fewer gun deaths. But statistics show that other means of killing (ie: knives, clubs, fists, etc.) rise to fill the void. For instance, this report issued in the UK, where gun laws are strict, other means are utilized for destructive purposes. We will file this under misdirection/omission of fact.

6.) High-capacity magazines should be banned because they too often turn murder into mass murder - Again, high capacity magazines are inanimate. Another fraud.

7.) More gun control laws are needed to protect women from domestic abusers and stalkers - Again, laws do not protect anyone. Logically speaking, a stalker or domestic abuser isn't mentally stable. It has been shown many times over that these types of personalities will use anything available to carry out an assault or murder. The only reasonable outcome for these types of laws would be to disarm the victim, which would have the opposite effect. Another misdirection/omission.

8.) Guns are rarely used in self-defense - This is actually an argument FOR gun control? I couldn't find any stats other than the NRA's figure of 2.5 million incidents per year involving any type of defense using a gun. Using logic, I can deduce that this argument is tenuous at best. If guns are rarely used, it must mean that they are an effective deterrent, or the violent crime rate isn't out of control. I'm filing this one under WTF.

9.) Legally owned guns are frequently stolen and used by criminals - This argument actually nullifies the more laws and BG checks theory. This is an admission that criminals will go to great lengths to get a gun AND bypass any new or existing law to get it. File this one under WTF as well.

10.) Gun control laws would reduce the societal costs associated with gun violence - And as statistics point out, those costs will be over taken by other types of wounds. Another misdirection/omission.

If you are interested in a longer list of pro gun control arguments, go here. Check out magical thinking at it's fill in the blank. The more questions I read the more idiotic the whole subject becomes.

If you are a truly informed and logical thinker, I tip my hat. As for the magical thinkers, I wish you well. This is my meager example of the differences between magical and logical thinking. If you would like to learn more about logical thinking and the Trivium, check out:

Thanks for reading.