[GPSCC-chat] Independence Epistle

[Cameron L. Spitzer]

I see political arguments that depend on false assumptions way too 
often.  It's a bad habit we should try to break, a habit that lets 
nonsense sneak into the things people believe.  I've been seeing it a 
lot in the comments on global warming stories.

      "Without US troops in Saudi Arabia, the suicide mass murders of
    September 11, 2001 would not have occurred."

"If I were king, the moon would be made of cheese" is the common 
example.  The sentence is true but it has no meaning, because I'm not 
king.  Nothing that follows from a false assumption truly follows.  It's 
one of the non sequiturs ("it does not follow") the Greeks warned us 
about.  "If Ralph Nader hadn't run in 2000, Gore would have won."  We 
don't know that.  Without Nader's pressure, Gore could have run further 
to the right and lost by a landslide.

Here a way to make Spencer's point without the false assumption.  
"There's evidence that the presence of US troops in SA provoked Al Queda 
into attacking the WTC."

It's a pet peeve.  Thanks for your patience.

-/Cameron in San Jos//é/


On 07/04/2012 09:59 AM, Spencer Graves wrote:
> A few of you may remember the polemic below from a year ago -- updated 
> with footnotes.  Enjoy.  Spencer
>
>
> *I Pledge Allegiance to Liberty and Justice for All *
>
>
> I pledge allegiance to liberty and justice for all, not restricted to 
> the flag of the United States of America nor to the republic for which 
> it stands, because when we allow that restriction, we give license to 
> media executives and politicians to support state terror 
> internationally. Without US troops in Saudi Arabia, the suicide mass 
> murders of September 11, 2001 would not have occurred.^1 
> <#sdfootnote1sym> If the US had not given weapons of mass destruction 
> to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, he could not plausibly have had them 
> in 2002.^2 <#sdfootnote2sym> US actions against democracy in countries 
> around the world convinced generations of third world politicians that 
> the US would not allow them put the interests of their people above 
> the concerns of US multinational businesses.^3 <#sdfootnote3sym> I 
> know of no major enemy the US has other than ones we have earned by 
> opposing liberty and justice for all. I pledge allegiance to liberty 
> and justice for all.
>
>

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