# BLATANTLY Contradictory Beliefs Held By the Same People **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 14, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blatantly-contradictory-beliefs-held-by-the-same-people/364440 "2006-07-14T05:44:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blatantly-contradictory-beliefs-held-by-the-same-people/364440/41 "2006-07-15T19:29:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Who pays for unemployment benefits? > > Private employers pay a tax to finance the unemployment benefits paid to their former employees. For most employers, this tax rate goes up or down depending upon how much their former workers collect. From here: [http://www.employeradvocates.com/faq/who\_pays\_unemployment\_taxes.html](http://www.employeradvocates.com/faq/who_pays_unemployment_taxes.html) Again, perhaps there are exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Dottygumdrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Dottygumdrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dottygumdrop)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blatantly-contradictory-beliefs-held-by-the-same-people/364440/42 "2006-07-15T20:15:40Z")
Don’t s’pose that cite for the Muslim Osama thing has turned up? I have lived in the Mid-East for about 8 years and am married to a Muslim - never heard anyone contradict themselves about Osama. General opinion (from that silent majority that everyone forgets) is he’s a bit of a wacko who is giving the rest of us a bad rap. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blatantly-contradictory-beliefs-held-by-the-same-people/364440/43 "2006-07-15T23:24:31Z")
I find \*\*this thread \*\* contradictory: On a message board dedicated to stamping out ignorance, there are alleged statements of fact in the OP unsupported by cites. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blatantly-contradictory-beliefs-held-by-the-same-people/364440/44 "2006-07-15T23:54:42Z")
One example that might ring true is a parent scolding their child for eating cookies at the breakfast table. Then, later that year, the kid sees a box of cookie cereal and the parent buys it. I’ll bet marketers know all kinds of examples like this one. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blatantly-contradictory-beliefs-held-by-the-same-people/364440/45 "2006-07-16T04:20:22Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] Y I don’t follow sport, and I’m not American, so I know nothing of this case, but I don’t see the contradiction here. 1) BB didn’t use drugs 2) BB is so good he doesn’t need to use drugs. Where’s the contradiction. I think the examples you have selected are poor.=[Cognitive dissonance - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance)]Cognitive Dissonance or [Doublethink](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublethink) [/QUOTE] You think my examples are poor, and I think you’re deliberately overlooking a contradiction. If you really believe someone is innocent of an alleged crime, there’s not other argumenbt necessary. The moment one adds a “besides,” it’s clear that a contradiction is coming. In the case of Barry Bonds, a “besides” always follows every assertion of innocence. “Barry never took steroids. (Brief pause). And besides, he wasn’t the only one who took them, so why isn’t anyone going after McGwire and Sosa?” “There’s no proof that Barry took steroids! (Brief pause.) And besides, he was already an MVP caliber player before he started taking them.” “Barry says he never took steroids and that’s good enough for me. (Brief pause.) And besides, there was no rule against steroids during the time he was taking them.” - As for the “cite” I’m asked for on Muslims denying Osama Bin Laden’s complicity in the 9/11 attacks… [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/jan-june02/friedman\_1-21.html](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/jan-june02/friedman_1-21.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dottygumdrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Dottygumdrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dottygumdrop)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blatantly-contradictory-beliefs-held-by-the-same-people/364440/46 "2006-07-16T05:58:42Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] As for the “cite” I’m asked for on Muslims denying Osama Bin Laden’s complicity in the 9/11 attacks… [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/jan-june02/friedman\_1-21.html](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/jan-june02/friedman_1-21.html) [/QUOTE] Thomas Friedman says (in 2002): > [@](#): > > There is still, or there was then, a widespread feeling that bin Laden didn’t do this, that there was no proof and, if he did do it, maybe we deserved a little hit If this is the extent of the proof, then this is not going to convince me, sorry … I thought there would be statements from actual Muslims. :dubious: I call your interview and raise you 8 years of living in the Middle East. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blatantly-contradictory-beliefs-held-by-the-same-people/364440/47 "2006-07-16T06:59:02Z")
A few contradictions from various moments: 1. Heterosexuality is the natural way of being for every human being in existence. 2. Heterosexuality is a frail, delicate flower that can be blown away by the merest whiff of homosexuality. Immigrants will: 1. take all our jobs; 2. end up on welfare. And then there are the people who assert that gay people are inferior to straight ones, and then get upset when their beliefs are described as homophobic, homophobia being the belief that gay people are inferior to straight people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blatantly-contradictory-beliefs-held-by-the-same-people/364440.md?page=2)