7. THE RATIONALIZATION OF POLITICAL AND BUSINESS SOPHISTRIES.
“Win right or wrong” is a nut shell statement of modern sophistry. Corollaries to this are such aphorisms as “Of two evils choose the lesser”; “Do evil that good may come,” etc. Armed with these platitudes the modern business and political octopus will play the bully and squeeze the life out of the little fellow in the name of economy; will pay for editorials to elect the “right man”; will evade bad laws so-called; institute lobbies; buy votes; and perpetrate a thousand other immoral deeds in the name of “good business” or of “party loyalty.”
Half truths are the most atrocious of all kinds of fallacies in that they are the most misleading. “Do evil that good may come” is but half of the whole truth “Doevil that good may come, provided there is no other way open.” Again, “Of two evils choose the lesser, if a complete enumeration has shown that there is not a third course.”
A development of a finer ability of discernment under right influence should lead the common citizen to see through these various sophistries practiced by corporate greed, and should enable him by means of the ballot to “blaze a better way.”
The “public is a blunderbuss” because the average man either cannot, or will not, think his own thoughts. By developing greater skill and arousing greater interest in the thinking process, the crowd of camp followers will be reduced; selfish bossism will die; and a truer and more efficient democracy will reign supreme.