[lit-ideas] Re: A Genuinely Useful Thought

Lawrence, amidst his rather paranoid rap to John, referred to me with the 
following paragraph:

"And Simon.  Note his attacks and assertions.  Note his rejection of the rules 
of logic.  Note his refusal to produce logically developed arguments.  Does he 
provide evidence for his assumptions?  Does he even describe his assumptions? 
Does he show how his conclusions are supported by evidence?  Are there any 
arguments mixed in there some place?  Look for them and tell me what you find."

With apologies for barging in on the conversation, the answer you probably want 
is...no. Simon does none of the above because Simon is discussing a subject. 
I'm not in a chamber with executive power, I'm not bidding for a contract worth 
millions, I'm taking part in a discussion which itself is taking place on a 
discussion list. 

Week after week I read Lawrence's assertion that people he calls Leftists (now 
capitalised), are in alliance with people called Islamists (sometimes called 
Terrorists also capitalised). The evidence for this alliance, so far as I've 
been able to ascertain, is that these Leftists are critical of the current US 
administration that is engaged in what that administration describes as a war 
with the Islamists/Terrorists. The thread, slender as it is, that connects this 
'evidence' to the assertion that an alliance exists is the well known phrase 
that begins 'the enemy of my enemy...' Note that there is no evidence of 
collusion between the Leftists and the Islamists/Terrorists, no conferences on 
strategy, no treaties, in fact, so far as I can figure, no communication 
whatsoever. 

Thus, on the basis of a connection based on a well-known phrase, Lawrence has 
shown that Leftists and Islamists/Terrorists are fighting on the same side. 
Figure that!

Now in addition to this we have a number of peripheral assertions. For 
instance, all media (with the probable exception of Fox News and perhaps some 
books that Lawrence has read), is biased towards the Leftists. France, and 
Europe in general, including the UK we might presume (which, along with other 
European countries is fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan), are all 
pre-disposed towards the Islamists/Terrorists. The evidence being that there 
are huge number of fundamentalist Islamics living in European countries and the 
evidence for that evidence...is based on a number of books Lawrence has read. 
(Which, of course, makes it so.) 

Thus, so Lawrence's assertions go, thus all these groups - the Leftists, the 
media, Europe, plus any others that catch his eye - are by definition 
treasonous because they are openly critical of the current US administration. 
And also, according to Lawrence's tenuous logic, because they all support - 
repeat support - the Islamists/Terrorists. 

Tell me Lawrence, where have I gone wrong.

Other related posts: