View Single Post
Old 04-01-2004, 12:47 PM   #4
Happy Monkey
I think this line's mostly filler.
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: DC
Posts: 13,575
Quote:
Originally posted by russotto
Remember, it's all the US's fault. If it's not the US's fault by action, it's the US's fault by inaction. In the rare event that blame cannot be pinned on the US, another Western European nation is at fault. Oh yeah, and because it's all the US's fault, the US deserved 9/11 and all that comes after it.
This is a mindset that I find disconcerting (The sarcasm behind it, I mean, the actual text is a strawman). It seems to follow this pattern:

1) If someone makes a mistake that contributes to a negative result,
2) then they deserve the full brunt of that result.
3) We didn't deserve 9/11,
4) therefore we must not have done anything to incite it.

I believe that 1) to 2) is not valid, therefore 4) does not follow from the obviously true 3). We've done a ton of stuff in the Middle East that exacerbates the problems that have always existed there. That doesn't excuse terrorism, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop doing it.
__________________
_________________
|...............| We live in the nick of times.
| Len 17, Wid 3 |
|_______________| [pics]
Happy Monkey is offline   Reply With Quote