[WikiEN-l] Anet Dartmouth, Again

Sat Aug 28 00:20:17 UTC 2004

Christiaan Briggs wrote:

> On 27 Aug 2004, at 10:40 pm, Ray Saintonge wrote:
>
>> Western Civilization to me really relates to Western Europe plus key 
>> members of its former colonial empires.  It does promote certain 
>> ideals, but that does not mean that it has been uniformly successful 
>> in implementing those ideals.  This distinction is difficult for the 
>> person who has not yet grasped the concept of irony.
>
> Actually this distinction was part of my argument. You seem to miss 
> the point that the evidence (the millions who have died and suffered) 
> suggests these ideals to be not much more than propaganda in a system 
> that has historically implemented the opposite of such ideals.

This argument is based on a distorted time scale.  I would give those 
who developed the ideals the benefit of the doubt.  You are committing 
the logical fallacy of "post hoc ergo propter hoc".  Those millions did 
not die and suffer because of the ideals, but because of the actions of 
people who purported to support them.  Engaging in a propaganda campaign 
that claims to be founded on those ideals does not imply that our 
propagandists believe and practise them.

Ec