Calling all pithy arguments

Today on Twitter I saw a couple posts reacting to a MSNBC piece aiming to say we have been undercounting COVID deaths rather than overcounting (this is was in response to Dr. Leana Wen saying on CNN that we have overcounted). My reply in one of these threads:

T Coddington @VanVoorheesVII

@snorman1776 @AWokeZombie @DrLeanaWen Hospitals & families had (have?) financial incentives to label a death a COVID death, people respond to incentives -> COVID deaths are overcounted. QED

I think this is a relatively airtight argument to anyone who believes in basic economic principles. As Steven Landsburg said in The Armchair Economist, “Most of economics can be summarized in four words: “People respond to incentives.” The rest is commentary.”

Perhaps I am being too self-congratulatory & others don’t think this is very convincing, but it got me to thinking that there is tremendous value in making powerful arguments that are also very pithy (I might also be thinking about this because I’ve been reading a lot of great Thomas Sowell quotes in recent days). While I spend lots of time analyzing data and look to base my conclusions logically from that analysis, this is a difficult way to get someone who currently disagrees with you to change their mind. On the other hand, if you can offer a simple, pithy argument that causes them to pause and examine their beliefs, perhaps that is more effective.

I’ll offer one more of my pithy arguments (as it relates to COVID narratives) & then I’ll ask readers to offer yours in the comments. Perhaps we can arm ourselves with good material. So, on the topic of masks…. ~ 2 years ago, my nephew who is in his early 20’s, sensed that I didn’t think wearing a mask made any sense. “You don’t think masks work?” he enquired. My response, “Would you wear a cloth condom?” 🤔🤣