You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
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I am coining a new fallacy - the Wiki fallacy
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 You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
That's where those little links at the bottom of the wiki page become useful.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
Caveat: Wikipedia often contains warning notes such as that the article is in dispute, or that further citation is needed. Those warnings should be taken seriously. They mean the particular article might not be all that accurate.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
 RE: I am coining a new fallacy - the Wiki fallacy
August 9, 2014 at 11:53 am
(This post was last modified: August 9, 2014 at 11:54 am by Welsh cake.)
Its an appeal to authority that was committed by both sides. Both were addressing the source, rather than the content.
Person x: "Oh well, here's what wiki says!" Person z: "You're quoting wiki? Seriously?" Rather than taking the time to actually read the information, fine-comb and scrutinize its accuracy and validity, to see if it stands up in a debate. Though I've noticed the critics of wiki, condemning people for referencing it, arguing its "lack of citation" or "citation there-in is not credible", have been rather quiet lately. 
This sounds like a subspecies of the genetic fallacy -- due solely to the source of the argument, the argument is invalid without addressing the points made in the argument.
Most people who make such arguments fall down in other areas anyway, so it's often not worth the time debating the point when there are so many others to choose from.
![[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg?rlkey=x1nmxbwrp...pouidnfvtl]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/fi/a6a72vica8gsyddmkhtxp/extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg?rlkey=x1nmxbwrpk9dzrupouidnfvtl) 
I looked up "wikipedia fallacy," but wikipedia has no entry for it. That means it doesn't exist.
 (August 10, 2014 at 8:33 am)StuW Wrote:(August 10, 2014 at 12:17 am)bennyboy Wrote: I looked up "wikipedia fallacy," but wikipedia has no entry for it. That means it doesn't exist. I should type, "Wikipedia is always wrong." Then the universe will implode in a puff of paradox. |
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