"The Wittgenstein test"
This article explains a type of problem in human thinking that is often the cause for bad arguments in shipping, and will house a collection of Clerith arguments that fail because they cannot meet this test.
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“Tell me,” the great twentieth-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once asked a friend, “why do people always say it was natural for man to assume that the sun went around the Earth rather than that the Earth was rotating?” His friend replied, “Well, obviously because it just looks as though the Sun is going around the Earth.” Wittgenstein responded, “Well, what would it have looked like if it had looked as though the Earth was rotating?”
The brilliance in this quote comes from the absurdist humor inherent in the line “Well, what would it have looked like if it had looked as though the Earth was rotating?”. The earth does rotate ofcourse, but the line almost makes it sound like it's a hypothetical we have to imagine. We don't, it would of course look EXACTLY like what we see in reality.
In order for a piece of "evidence" to actually be relevant, it not only has to fit whatever it is you are trying to prove, but equally important is that it doesn't fit if your claim isn't true. If the piece of evidence presented is consistent with both your claim, as well as with its negation, then the existence of the piece of evidence can't be used to distinguish between the two, and is therefore, irrelevant. Clerith arguments that fail this test: (hint: all of them do, but I'll limit myself to the most egregious ones I can think off). 1: Cloud saying he wants to be reunited with Aerith in the lifestream proves he loves Aerith. 2: Tifa asked Cloud whether or not she loved him and he didn't answer her, therefore he doesn't love her. 3: Cloud has isolated himself in ACC in Aeriths church, therefore he loves Aerith. 4: Cloud left Tifa and the kids in ACC, therefore he doesn't love them. 5: Cloud thought Denzel was from Aerith, therefore he loves her. 6: Aerith has more screentime than Tifa in the first half of the game, therefore, had she lived, she'd have more screentime in the second half as well, and be the main heroine. 7: Aerith was the original character, therefore she's the main love interest.
_____________________________________________________ 1: Cloud saying he wants to be reunited with Aerith in the lifestream proves he loves Aerith: If Cloud merely saw Aerith as a friend, an important memory who died because of him, would he still want to be reunited with her after death? Yes he would, which means this line cannot be used as evidence that Cloud loved Aerith romantically. Incidentally, the corresponding question here is "If Cloud loved Aerith romantically, would he choose that moment to jab that fork into Tifas heart?" Answer is "no, he wouldn't". (And neither would SE). Not only does this claim fail the test, the test arguably shows the exact opposite.
2: Tifa asked Cloud whether or not she loved him and he didn't answer her, therefore he doesn't love her: If Cloud does love Tifa, would it still make sense that he didn't respond? Yes, because the line indicates that he's asleep, what's more, he responds to the question of whether or not he loves Marlene by saying he does, but does not know how to show it. Indicating that even if he loves Tifa, he wouldn't know how to actually express that.
3: Cloud has isolated himself in ACC in Aeriths church, therefore he loves Aerith:
If Clouds feelings towards Aerith in ACC are feelings of depression and guilt for her death, not love, does it make sense for him to choose that location to die? Yes it does. So it proves nothing.
4: Cloud left Tifa and the kids in ACC, therefore he doesn't love them:
Do depressed people often isolate themselves from their loved ones? Yes they do. In the Cloti interpretation of Clouds character he's suffering from depression, guilt, and feelings of shame for failing to protect both the dead, and his family. Does it make sense for a sick man with a low sense of self-importance to not want his family to see him like that? Yes. Does it make sense that he would not want to burden them? Yes. Does it make sense that he doesn't want to look them in the eye?
5: Cloud thought Denzel was from Aerith, therefore he loves her:
If Cloud doesn't love Aerith, does it still make sense that he'd think a kid he finds at her church would be sent to him by her? Yes it does. Conversely, if he does see himself as being romantic with Aerith, does it make sense for him to raise a kid with another woman? No it doesn't, he'd have taken Denzel, and raised him by himself, probably at the church.
6: Aerith has more screentime than Tifa in the first half of the game, therefore, had she lived, she'd have more screentime in the second half as well, and be the main heroine.
If Aerith wasn't the main heroine, would she still have more screentime in the first half of the game? Yes, because she won't be present in the second half, which means that they only had a limited time to make you as attached to her as possible. It's equally likely that had Aerith not died, that instead of getting more attention in the second half, she'd have gotten less attention in the first.
7: Aerith was the original character, therefore she's the main love interest.
If Aerith isn't the main love interest, would she still be the original character? Yes, literally nothing can change that, which means it's not relevant.
