Silver bullet

{{logic}}{{cquote|''I define [[anarchist]] society as one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual.''|||[[Murray Rothbard]], who kept a case of silver bullets in his closet}}

A '''silver bullet''' is any proposal or belief that rests on some ''one simple thing'' being the solution to a massive and complex problem. It's one of those things that sounds like [[common sense]], but in reality is completely idiotic — a favorite device of the intellectually lazy who do not want to deal with your petty complications and nuance. Silver bullets show up in [[pseudoscience|fake science]] and [[Austrian economics|fake economics]], and should be an immediate red flag that somebody is desperately trying to find a rationale for a conclusion that [[PIDOOMA|they arbitrarily chose at some point in their adolescence]].

The term is derived from [[werewolf]] folklore, where a {{wpl|silver}} [[Gun|bullet]] is required (or at least by ''far'' the most effective method) to kill the beast. Since silver bullets are effective for killing just about anything in your average monster story, the term is also used to describe an object or idea which should "fix everything".<ref>http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/silver-bullet.html</ref>{{efn|The effectiveness of silver in killing a wide variety of [[supernatural]] monsters (werewolves, [[vampire]]s, [[demon]]s, etc.) has its roots in the ancient (as in pre-scientific) belief that silver is actually {{wpl|light}} in a solid form;{{fact}} furthermore, ancient peoples observed that silver actually ''does'' have some protective properties, such as retarding the spread of disease.<ref name='Mystic Silver'>"[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SilverHasMysticPowers Silver Has Mystic Powers]", [[TV Tropes]]</ref> Humans, being {{wpl|diurnal||,}} [[Light woo|are naturally prone to seeing light and anything associated with light as inherently good]], and {{wpl|darkness}} and anything associated with darkness as inherently bad. {{wpl|Predator|Anything that preys upon humans}} and makes a living off of human suffering and death, in the minds of humans who have an inherent desire to survive, must be bad and [[evil]], therefore aligned with darkness. Therefore, since silver is made of light, it should be highly damaging, even lethal, to creatures that are evil and aligned to darkness — a rather logical conclusion, as long as one ignores [[Bullshit|the asininity of the premises]], the whole idea being built on a foundation of [[cognitive bias]]es, and the complete lack of [[reality]]-based supporting evidence for light being more "virtuous" than darkness.}} In real life, a bullet made from 100% silver is not only much more expensive than a bullet made from more mundane material like [[lead]], copper, tungsten, or [[depleted uranium]] (essentially waste), but also ''less'' effective in terms of accuracy in tests using modern weapons (attributed to the level of precision required in silver bullet manufacture).<ref>"[http://mythresults.com/hollywood-gunslingers Hollywood Gunslingers]", ''Mythbusters'' Ep. 189</ref>

==See also==
*[[Panacea]]
*The [[Hyperloop]] is one, according to [[Elon Musk|Saint Elon]]
*[[Conservative]]s blame the flagging economy on "[[Deregulation|over-regulation]]" by the [[Food and Drug Administration|FDA]], the [[Environmental Protection Agency|EPA]], and other watchdog groups.
**[[Libertarian]]s believe that taxation is a form of theft, but paying the same amount or more to a [[Privatization|private enterprise]] is a mutual exchange. Hence proposals for a "[[FairTax|Fair]]" or "[[Flat Tax]]", which would add trillions more to the deficit.
**[[Anarcho-capitalism|Ancaps]] simply want to privatize everything.
*[[Mel Gibson|"Fucking Jews....Jews are behind all the wars in the world!"]]
*If [[Religious Right|you believe America has "turned away from God"]], then it's very easy to blame society's ills on the [[separation of church and state]].
*Nationalists like to blame immigration for everything: See [[Secure the border]] and [[Britain is full]].
*Lost a war? Government corruption getting out of hand? The economy is crashing? Why, you have to turn to [[Islam]]! That will cure it! (According to [[Islamism|Islamists]], that is.)
*[[Golden hammer]]

==External links==
*[http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~cah/G51ISS/Documents/NoSilverBullet.html No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering] by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
*[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SilverHasMysticPowers Silver Has Mystic Powers], [[TV Tropes]]

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Evaluating arguments]]

Categories: Evaluating arguments