• wpb@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    “This is not a perfect solution, and therefore it is not a solution” is called the nirvana fallacy, and is poor reasoning. Somehow people are really susceptible to it.

    The argument “this solution only partially solves the problem, and further entrenches us into a system that makes the problem this solution aims to solve much, much worse in the long run, and as such the benefits do not outweight the costs” is a different argument, but it is often mistaken for the former argument because people are incapable of long term thinking.

    • Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Interesting, now I know that type of argument has a name. I think many rationalizations are a veneer for laziness. Taking the stance that doing something is useless means you don’t have to feel guilty about not doing it. Likewise, when there’s a widespread delusion that simple, ineffective actions make us heroes, people will do those actions and nothing else, because giving themselves a gold star is all they really want. It’s important not to confuse spending hours in social media circlejerks with “spreading awareness”.