Logically Speaking…

Johnny-on-the-Spot

I’m driving to a dinner date with my wife and older daughter and I’m following a huge red dump truck.

I noted a small, rectangular sign on the back of the truck.

When I stopped behind this truck at a traffic signal, the sign said, “Keep back 200 feet. This vehicle is not responsible for cracked or damaged windshields from materials falling from this truck.”

When the light changed to green, the truck got pulled away and when it was about 6 car lengths ahead, I couldn’t read the sign.

Since the typical car length is 14 to 15 feet, I realized either my eyesight was poor or the sign needed to be larger so it could be read a a distance of at least 200 feet.

I immediately thought, “What would ‘the Hammer’ do?”

Actually, that’s an example of logic.

Logic is reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity; principles and criteria of validity of inference and demonstration; a proper or reasonable way of thinking about or understanding something.

Deducing that two truths imply a third truth.

For example, logic is the process of coming to the conclusion of who stole a cookie based on who was in the room at the time.

You with me?

The foundation of a logical argument is its’ proposition, or statement.

The proposition is either accurate (true) or not accurate (false).

Premises are the propositions used to build the argument.

The argument is then built on premises.

Then an inference is made for the premise.

Finally, a conclusion is drawn.

If I stay back 200 feet from that gravel truck, I might not get my windshield damaged if an errant stone falls out of the dump bed.

But what if I can’t read that sign until I’m 100 feet away?

And, it appears the truck owner is saying we’re not responsible for errant stones even if you can’t read my sign outside of the “danger zone”.

Maybe not so logical?

So where’s the logic in taking away Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam’s cartoon firearms as a way to protest gun violence when Marvin the Martian gets to keep his ray gun zapper?

Yet, violent video games with a lot more gore, blood and guts displayed get a free pass.

That dynamite-wielding coyote chasing the elusive road runner isn’t disarmed, or defunded but maybe that’s because the NCA (National Coyote Association) isn’t as powerful a lobby group as the NRA.

Where’s the logic?

Inductive reasoning is “bottoms up”, meaning that it takes specific information and makes a broad generalization that is considered probable, allowing for the fact that the conclusion may not be accurate.

This type of reasoning usually involves a rule being established, based on a series of reported experiences.

We’ve been told to avoid COVID19, we need to wash our hands, stay 6 feet apart and wear masks.

For weeks, we couldn’t go to church but we could go grocery shopping.

We’re also told that those of greatest risk are the elderly and those with health issues.

Logic would lead me to believe mobs of people, roaming city streets, looting and rioting might be at risk since footage I saw revealed some folks closer than six feet apart.

I also didn’t see many hand-washing station stations in that same footage.

But most were wearing masks.

Perhaps fumes and smoke from burning buildings and cars kills the virus.

Would that be logical?

Now, there are those who want to destroy Confederate statues and erase that era as a way to make amends for our past misdeeds.

Let’s changed the names of military bases if the namesake was “on the wrong side”.

Problem is, we don’t have very good memories and we’ll forget and does it really change anything?

Writer and philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it”.

When my wife and I were first married, we were in the USAF and lived in Selma, Alabama.

We rented a two bedroom apartment in an area called “NBF” Housing.

For all we knew or cared, “NBF” could have stood for National Buscuit Foundaion

Actually, “NBF” was for Nathan Bedford Forrest.

“Old Bed” or “The Wizard of the Saddle” joined the Confederacy as a private and eventually became a general.

After the Civil War, Forrest became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

But, in 1869, Forrest ordered the dissolution of the KKK along with the destruction of their costumes and he withdrew.

Although he later insisted he had never been a member of the clan, he made at least one speech before his death in support of racial harmony.

Now, since my wife and I lived in a housing project named after the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, some might think/assume we are/were racists.

Perhaps logical.

Fact of the matter is we were enlisted military personnel looking for an inexpensive place to set up housekeeping.

Cheap rent was our objective…and getting out of the house trailer rental we were currently in.

We were just penny-pinching newlyweds.

So, had we known beforehand, what “NBF” stood for, would we have still rented there?

Probably.

Might that offend somebody?

Perhaps.

That might be a logical conclusion.

Still, it’s not as clearly defined as staying back 200 feet to avoid getting my windshield broken.