Huckabee: A Universal Negative

So back in April of 2005 the CIA released a report which said there were no WMDs found in Iraq. This report meshed quite well with a recent study which found that Bush, aides made 935 false statements in run-up to war. Given both of these facts we now have to try and figure out what Mike Huckabee meant last thursday when he said this regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction:

My point was that, no, we didn’t find them. Did they get into Syria? Did they get into some remote area of Jordan? Did they go some other place? We don’t know. They may not have existed. But simply saying — we didn’t find them so therefore they didn’t exist — is a bit of an overreach.

I love this quote. Because it perfectly captures the mentality mentained by Huckabee, the Republican Party, and those dipshits with whom I took theology classes.

It is impossible to prove a universal negative due to how proof works; it is impossible to prove that there exist no unicorns. The reason for this is arguably the idea at which Huckabee is grasping: If we do not find X this does not mean X does not exist. The problem is that if X does not, in fact, exist the situation would be that we do not find X.

So if we look for WMDs and do not find WMDs what do we do?

One answer is to follow Huckabee and embrace Pascal's Wager. In short, Pascal's Wager says that it is better to believe in the Christian God than to not believe in the Christian God as a result of an assessment of consequences:

-God exists and you believe in God? You go to heaven.
-God exists and you do not believe in God? You go to hell.
-God does not exist and you believe in God? No hell. You're fine.
-God does not exist and you do not believe in God? No hell. You're fine.

For Huckabee and WMDs we just change a few variables:
-WMDs exist and we go to war? War justified.
-WMDs exist and we do not go to war? Oh noes! They teh blows us up!
-WMDs do not exist and we go to war? War justified. Fuck brown people.
-WMDs do not exist and we do not go to war? Who doesn't want to go to war?

So despite whether or not WMDs actually exist it is better, in Huckabee's mind, to err on the side of bombing brown people.

The most interesting part of this quote, though, is how it so perfectly captures the concept of belief in possibility. Huckabee has no proof that there are WMDs in Iraq. But he believes that there are WMDs in Iraq, he yearns for the actualization of that possibility in the same way that he years for the actualization of his invisible, unverifiable sky daddy. Since it is impossible to prove a universal negative Huckabee can forever embrace his belief in WMDs and invisible sky daddy: No one can ever prove him wrong. No matter how long we look and how many reports are filed so long as we find no WMDs, no invisible sky daddy, Huckabee will forever maintain that these things exist.

Because no one can ever prove him wrong; if we can't find any unicorns that does not mean that no unicorns exist.

The real question is why Huckabee believes in WMDs and christian invisible sky daddy but not equally unverifiable beings such as unicorns, teapots, Spagetti Monsters, and Zeus. To answer that I will leave you with a quote from Stephen F. Roberts:

"I contend we are both atheists— I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you reject all other gods, you will understand why I reject yours as well."