Austin – In a new paper published by the University of Texas,  researchers have concluded that most Americans can only form rudimentary arguments based on either personal attacks, or completely inappropriate analogies. “We’ve been noticing a trend in American thinking over the course of the past ten years. More and more Americans were simply parroting talking points from sources like “The Daily Show” or talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh.” Said Dr. Phillip Colman. “In the era of “new media” this has devolved further to where Americans are simply incapable of forming a rational argument.”

The study focused on social media arguments and specifically cited the Covid-19 crisis as the tipping point in absurdly lazy argument. In one cited Facebook exchange Lynn Swanson of Grand Rapids Michigan posted an image of a man mowing his lawn with a tornado in the background and the quoted text “Mah Freeeeedom!” Dr. Colman points out that this is a fantastic example of a ridiculously stupid false analogy. “There’s nothing in the current crisis that even comes close to mowing your lawn in a tornado, yet if you look at the data, Ms. Swanson gained over one hundred “likes” and comments of “YAAASSSSS!!!!” by her adoring echo chamber.”

Idiotic argumentation isn’t limited to one side of the political aisle either. Another cited exchange involved Arthur Wilmington of Denver, Colorado who tweeted that “The NAZIs used to tell the Jews when they could go outside too!” in protest of local government stay at home orders. This was followed by replies like Brad Harris of Livingston, Texas who said “Yeah! The unreasonable government tries to tell us to stop at stop signs. Your [sic] a moron!” In an apparent attempt to link hundreds of years of driving experience and law to a public health crisis of two months.