Have you seen these commercials? I was going to paraphrase them loosely, but then I found actual transcripts.

Guy #1: It's a ploy.
Guy #2: What?
Guy #1: This "Drug Money Funds Terror"; it's a ploy.
Guy #2: A ploy.
Guy #1: A — a manipulation.
Guy #2: Ploy.
Guy #1: "Drug money funds terror," I mean, why should I believe that?
Guy #2: Because it's a fact.
Guy #1: A fact.
Guy #2: F-A-C-T. Fact.
Guy #1: So you're saying that I should believe it because it's true. That's your argument.
Guy #2: It is true.

And that's it! Guy #2 wins, not because he has used anything that looks even an eensy, weensy bit like logical reasoning or evidence, but because he was that kid in elementary school who could say, "I know you are, but what am I?" 400 times and still be up for another 400. He also did just fine in spelling, which is a good thing, because as everyone knows, spelling something out makes it more true.

"Who are you?"
"I'm the mack daddy."
"You are not the mack daddy."
"Am too. M-A-C-K D-A-D-D-Y."
"Oh! I see."

If you're me at this point, you're hoping the ad was supposed to be open-ended—that they couldn't possibly show us two adults arguing at recess and expect us to be nodding our heads and thinking, "Yeah, it's true because it's true, dipshit!" But nope. There's a part II, and here's how it starts:

Guy #1: Okay, so it's true.
Guy #2: What's true?
Guy #1: Drug money funds terrorism.
Guy #2: It is true.
Guy #1: Okay!
Guy #2: Okay?

And I'm not even going to get into the rest of the commercial, because addressing what's wrong with it requires discussing a whole other set of issues about just how drug money has been linked to terrorism. They're complex issues that are worth getting into, but I don't feel like getting into them right now, because they're not my point.

So...

The bad news is not just that critical thinking is a waste of airtime; it's also obstinate and quite possibly un-American, seeing as how questioning the argument of someone who hasn't actually presented an argument can align you with terrorists so easily.

The good news is that I'm the mack daddy.