A defect in ability to reason objectively and think abstractly, especially prevalent among
politicians, bureaucrats, and other members of the establishment. Basically, it is the inability to compare 2 analogous things, when one of them is legal and the other is illegal. For example, comparing the harms of an illegal activity with a legal
one, or taxes to extortion racket, or the
government to the mafia.
The
perfect example of the illegality logic loop: someone might claim,
“You can’t compare the harm of a legal activity with an illegal
one.”
“Why not?” you would ask.
“Because one’s illegal.”
“Why is it illegal?”
“Because it’s harmful.”
“
Don’t we need to compare the harms to determine if an activity should be illegal? …(long pause)… “You can’t compare the harm of a legal activity with an illegal one!”