Day: April 20, 2006

The Broken Window Fallacy

Chris 4 Comments

Or, the Parable of the Broken Window

The parable describes a shopkeeper whose window is broken by a little boy. Everyone sympathizes with the man whose window was broken, but pretty soon they start to suggest that the broken window makes work for the glazier, who will then buy bread, benefitting the baker, who will then buy shoes, benefitting the cobbler, etc. Finally, the onlookers conclude that the little boy was not guilty of vandalism; instead he was a public benefactor, creating economic benefits for everyone in town…

The fallacy of the onlookers’ argument is that they considered the positive benefits of purchasing a new window, but they ignored the hidden costs to the shopkeeper and others. He was forced to spend his money on a new window, and therefore could not have spent it on something else. Perhaps he was going to buy bread, benefitting the baker, who would then have bought shoes, etc., but instead he was forced to buy a window. Instead of a window and bread, he had only a window. Or perhaps he would have bought a new shirt, benefitting the tailor; in that case the glazier’s gain was the tailor’s loss, and again the shopkeeper has only a window instead of a window and a shirt. The child did not bring any net benefit to the town. Instead, he made the town poorer by the value of one window.

Daily Dose of Ingersoll

Chris
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The founder of a religion must be able to turn water into wine — cure with a word the blind and lame, and raise with a simple touch the dead to life. It was necessary for him to demonstrate to the satisfaction of his barbarian disciple, that he was superior to nature. In times of ignorance this was easy to do. The credulity of the savage was almost boundless. To him the marvelous was the beautiful, the mysterious was the sublime. Consequently, every religion has for its foundation a miracle — that is to say, a violation of nature — that is to say, a falsehood.

–Robert Green Ingersoll, “The Gods”, (1872)

Father Daughter Purity Ball

Chris 21 Comments

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Three years ago, she and her husband, Randy, created a way for fathers to strengthen their relationships with their daughters. It’s called a Father-Daughter Purity Ball.

On the surface, it looks like just an elegant evening. About 70 fathers don formal attire, twirl their daughters to the rhythms of the waltz and other ballroom dances, and eat at the upscale Broadmoor hotel. The sold-out event is Saturday.

But the real purpose of the evening will be the pledge each father will read and sign at the event.

And what are the pledges?

But this is what that little girl is reading to her father from that card:

I pledge to remain sexually pure…until the day I give myself as a wedding gift to my husband. … I know that God requires this of me.. that he loves me. and that he will reward me for my faithfulness.

And this is what Daddy says in turn:

I, (daughter’s name)’s father, choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity. I will be pure in my own life as a man, husband and father. I will be a man of integrity and accountability as I lead, guide and pray over my daughter and as the high priest in my home. This covering will be used by God to influence generations to come.

Oh boy.