Cool Idolatry Fallacy

The Cool Idolatry Fallacy occurs when reality and truth are defined as what fits into the approval of others, what is considered cool. The cool god is a puny god. This is a type of the appeal to bribery fallacy. From a person who is deceived by this fallacy, the necessary changes are just added to the inner fake-reality or worldview, and they seem to be part of reality. There is usually no attempt to lie in order to fit in. This behavior comes naturally and is outside of consciousness.

Examples of the Cool Idolatry Fallacy

A teenager wants to fit in with everyone else, and all his friends are doing drugs.

A college student wants to go into the sciences, but it is difficult to get a degree in the sciences without believing in the Big-Bang-Billions-of-Years-No-Flood-Molecules-to-Man story. The student has never thought of the fact that students are simply learning the story so they can be tested on it in the same way they might learn about the mythical Greek gods. The tests are developed to see if they understand the stories not as confirmation that the stories are true. (This is not to say that there are no professors that are anti-theists or anti-creationists.)

Scientists who want to fit in and not be ostracized and marginalized must believe in the Big-Bang-Billions-of-Years-No-Flood-Molecules-to-Man story. Here is an example. Keep in mind that it is difficult to know one’s own motives let alone the motives of someone else.