For some background, please read my first post on this subject: The Art of Thinking and Reasoning.

Imagine if you would that, you are at a restaurant and order a Coca-Cola. After a few moments, the server returns bringing you a root beer. You explain to her the mistake, you ordered a Coke. Instead of the person giving you what you ordered, she then goes into a monologue regarding all the similarities between Coca-Cola and this root beer and, because of those similarities, you should be open-minded enough to accept what she brought you was, in fact, a Coke.

Make sense? No? Hold on, we will keep going.

You have now had enough arguing with the server, and ask for the head-waitress. She apologizes for the mistake, and promises to bring you a Coca-Cola right away. The head-waitress returns with the Pepsi. What the hey, right? You wanted a Coke. Again, you explain this to her, but she goes into a long explanation how that both Coke and Pepsi are cola drinks. She insists that because of this fact (and many others she is willing to provide), you should be open-minded enough to accept they are both the same, and therefore what she brought you was, in fact, a Coke.

Am I making sense yet? No? Hold on, I got more.

You have had it with the moronic wait-staff at this establishment, and ask for the restaurant’s manager. She apologizes for the mistake. She absolutely does not know what is going on with her employees, and promises to bring you a Coca-Cola right away. The manager returns with the Coke, but it has a big scoop if vanilla ice-cream floating on top. What the hey, right? You just want a Coke. The manager explains that she brought you a Coke, but you reply you did not want the ice-cream floating on top. The manager, frustrated with you, states that you should be open-minded enough to accept that the ice-cream, does in fact, enhance the Coke by providing a exceptional contrast to it, and you should not be so critical. It is still a Coke, right? Ugh!!

Yet? No? OK.

In total frustration you scream out that you will accept a Coca-Cola, New Coke, Coca-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Lime, Coca-Cola Vanilla, Coca-Cola Citra, Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla, Coca-Cola Lemon, Coca-Cola Raspberry, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Cherry Zero, Diet Coke Plus, or any other version of Coca-Cola as a Coke (even that funky Coca-Cola Orange in the UK), but you will not accept birch beer, root beer, Dr Pepper, Kool-Aid, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, or any other soft drink as Coke, and you do not want a Coke Float. You just want a real Coke.

Can you imagine what their responses may be?

- “Real Coke” denotes an identity with a specific brand; it does not define the heart of what it means to experience a Coca-Cola. People who think that a specific brand defines the true Coca-Cola experience are just bullies.

- In my mind, it is not your job to police other peoples’ Coca-Cola experience, and it’s not anybody else’s job to police mine. I don’t get what’s wrong with other soft drinks.

- People like you discredit yourself in most people’s eyes when you spout drivel like a Coke Float is not the very same as a Coke.

- The “Official” Coke products are not the be-all-end-all of Coca-Cola.

- I think I may have adhered to that kind of thinking when I first started drinking Coke. Then I realized I never really cared for half of the “Official” Coke products nor really cared to. Why is it any business of others what I drink?

- This is one of my biggest problems with the restaurant patrons. Products being excluded for not being an “Official” Coke product might be actually be loved by Coca-Cola executives.

Does any of this make sense? No, of course not. It makes no sense at all, but people talk and think like this. Can you believe this crap?

Here are some inconvenient facts:

- A thing is or is not, independent of belief. This means (in this example) that a soft drink is or is not a Coca-Cola regardless whether a person believes it is a Coca-Cola or not.

- A statement can be partially true and partially false, again, independent of belief. Therefore, the statement that a Coke Float is Coca-Cola is not a completely true statement, because a Coke Float is not completely Coca-Cola.

- A thing is defined by its characteristics, not by its label. Or, in other words, what defines a Coca-Cola, as a Coca-Cola, does not change if one chooses that Pepsi should be called a Coke.

The example provided is extreme and ludicrous, but it does demonstrate how some people think about more abstract ideas such as religion, spirituality, society, politics, emotion, and morality. Irrational thought is a rampant disease in today’s world. Some lack basic reasoning and critical thinking skills to such an extreme that they accuse those who are reasoned, pragmatic, and practical of demonstrating insecurity of belief and understanding. Can you imagine?

Tags: reasoning, thinking