The Horrendous Logic of Marjorie Taylor Greene

Update: On June 14th, 2021, representative Greene apologized for her comments on the Holocaust. I applaud her for admitting to her mistake.

Logic matters. Especially in politics. People who are on the wrong side of reason often use bad logic to justify their conclusions and thus their actions. And when you’re in a position of political power, actions based on bad logic can be harmful to people. Take Hitler and the Nazis. Their argument (though it was formed long before Hitler) that the Jews deserved to be wiped out because they killed Jesus is the ultimate example of bad logic and its potentially catastrophic consequences.

Now, usually I’m highly averse to making Hitler comparisons or references unless it’s genuinely warranted. But in this case, it is quite relevant. Because Marjorie Taylor Greene just made one herself…a completely unwarranted and fallacious analogy in which she compared members of congress being required to wear masks, to Jews being labeled with a yellow star during the Holocaust.

So let’s break this one down.

Greene starts off with an accurate fact and a correct implication. During the Holocaust, Jews were in fact legally required to display a yellow star identifying them as Jewish. The clearly implied opinion in Greene’s statement was that requiring Jews to wear a…