Speaking For The Dead

I read and article today that said if 19th century novelist Jane Austin ('Pride and Prejudice') were alive today she would approve of on line dating. And then the other day, President Obama said that if Lincoln were alive today he would hate the Republican Party (the one that he loved and embraced as a member). And then there are the people who always push their personal arguments with the statement that, "If Jesus were alive today he (or she) would..."


It's crazy on all three accounts, but this happens every day now. People speak for a dead person of prominence and claim to know what that beloved but deceased figure would think and want today. And the listeners out there agree with them. Might this be another example of why people today do not think for themselves, do not reason properly or are just plain too lazy to form logical arguments of their own. 
Uh, Jesus would want me to write that. Haha
 

Putting words in the mouths of those unable to speak for themselves is one of the lower levels of cognition. Politicians and public figures do it to back their own (often weak) arguments because transferring loyalty from a loved and respected person to the person who speaks for him or her works more often than not. As in the example I gave above of "Jesus would", who wants to argue with Jesus?


It's perfectly legitimate to quote another person in support of an argument, but to claim that the deceased "would believe" what you contend is the sloppiest of thinking. Translating what a person believed in a previous time to today's ethic is the ultimate in arrogance and incoherence. Of course, the audience which is predisposed to agree with the speaker will accept the rationale that the speaker knows what Jesus or whomever else he quotes to support his or her argument believes. 

That's why dictators use the tactic so often. It's not easy to refute what the dead allegedly believe.  Religions use the words of the dead and suppositions from them all the time. A core reason religion succeeds in keeping the flock believing is to impose the alleged words of the dead on the current flock of believers. 

The use of the Ten Commandments to promote current moral mores or folkways is a prime example. So my policy is to ignore those who quote people who didn't render an opinion and can't affirm or deny themselves from the statements attributed to them. 

Uh.... If you wish, you can quote me on that.