Facts and Fallacies

YES/NO LOGISTICS
An update is not meant to eternally rehearse the process of mental dichotomy —which Socrates sold to the world, when it needed it. YES and/or NO propositions work very well for all general purposes, but they do tend to phase off in any consideration of a Big Picture. Phase off, as in, Alice doesn't live here, anymore... Or the postman did find the lights on, but no one was home...

Facts & Fallacies are usually taken as natural contraries— or spoken of in the same breath— so that when we hear of one we immediately think of the other! Examples of this mental procedure are limitless. A number of problems also come with it. As Sherlock Holmes incessantly demonstrates:
Using a positive is as dubious as using a negative, insofar as the one merely reacts to the other.

Indeed, in stating a fact, the value of that fact tends to be weighed against the fallacy it claims to disprove. As it turns out, the intellect is left—not with the value of the fact itself, but with the memory of the fallacy, instead.

We end up remembering the negative background—even in the most positive of propositions!
Freudiana Postulates

Cerebral Ping-Pong
This mental game of Ping-Pong encourages pupils to perceive Edison's worth, in terms of his victory over the fools who accused him of devilry.

Modern politics are another typical instance—still wholly based on this system—where credit for possessing wisdom is taken by a Party, whenever its Opposition can be proven wrong. The proof usually consists in providing evidence to the effect that someone is either a fool, or capable of enjoying derision, even... But this is another matter... Another problem in this approach:
Measuring Delusion
Someone's delusion can never adequately measure someone else's sanity.
Freudiana Postulates

These kinds of mistakes are rampant in everyday living.
Self-esteem suffers another damaging blow whenever it claims an unworthy victory.

Morality is a secondary issue in an instance where a boxer uses illegal blows.

Civilisation is in trouble whenever another big boy walks away feeling great for having pinned down a defenceless one. Kicking a child on the ground—and taking it as victory!

But the moral consequences of a cheap victory are dismal, compared to what that does to the human ego: psychological catastrophe!

David & Goliath
Goliath lost any standard he might have had as a warrior—if only for allowing himself to tower over the boy David.
He should have told his people:
No! I can't have that—bring me someone else to fight!
They insisted:
No one else will measure against you, anymore—nor will the boy leave till you turn up!...
He should have replied:
Then, let us find another way—quit, even!

Posterity would at least remember him for having had warrior credentials. Instead, he became a chicken for not running away...

How often does one hear of this scenario, or witness it?