What They Think We Think Tells Us About What They Think

Have you ever noticed that people spend a long time constructing rather impressive and detailed explanations about what other people think, and then use that construction to justify themselves (or to attack someone else)?  It’s a very good way for some people to engage in a discussion by assaulting the other guy or to preen about their implied superiority.  It also substitutes a discussion of assumed (and sometimes simply invented) motives for evaluating evidence at face value.