The argument quoted about 110 lines below, posted by Gerard Holmgren, is an example of *sophistry* -- "a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone".
His principal method of deception here is a *false dichotomy* -- lying to the reader by saying they must select one of only two choices, both of which lead deceptively to the conclusion that Holmgren's claim is correct (that a large airplane did not hit WTC1). This type of lie is very commonly used to convince people to believe things against their own interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dichotomy Holmgren's two choices are that either the Naudet WTC1 aircraft image looks exactly like an airplane the size and shape of a 767, or that it doesn't at all and therefore other evidence is needed to identify it. Of course the answer is that the image looks exactly like that of a large 767-style airplane after that image was passed through a sequence of distorting agencies -- 1. poorly focussed through a lens that was set for a scene about ten feet away, 2. scanned by a camera that alternately omits odd and even video lines on successive fields (interlaced scanning), 3. and then compressed one or more times with lossy algorithms primarily designed to minimize the digital bandwidth of the signal, and which therefore throw away or alter small, faint, and rapidly moving details that are not visible to a viewer watching at full speed at a normal distance from the screen. Now here is the fundamental method of reasoning that such a situation requires: To identify the original object one simply asks, "What original object image, when passed through this known set of distorting agencies, ends up looking like the final (Naudet) image?" Note that this correct method of reasoning, which is used by all competent engineers and scientists for interpreting audio, video, and every other type of physical data, is not either of the two methods that Gerard Holmgren says are the only possible choices in his false dichotomy argument. Here's an example: If you were wearing green sunglasses and walking through a zoo, and saw a horse-shaped animal covered in green and black stripes, would you think it was actually a green striped animal secretly created by the government? If you were Webfairy or Holmgren, always pushing the most bizarre and unbelievable interpretation of the evidence, then you would. But if you were an intelligent, sane, and honest person seeking the truth, you would simply ask yourself, "What object, if seen through the known distorting agency of the green sunglasses, would end up looking like a horse with green and black stripes?" And of course you would conclude that it was an ordinary white and black striped zebra. So has anyone applied this method to the Naudet WTC1 aircraft image? Yes: Eric Salter, the person who has done far more than anyone else to debunk the torrent of disinformation constantly spewed forth by Webfairy and Holmgren, and has therefore been targeted by them with incessant smear campaigns. Here is the Web address of that work: http://www.questionsquestions.net/WTC/767orwhatzit.html#holmgrenplane Your browser should position the page so you start reading at a paragraph beginning with the phrase "Holmgren attempts". If you don't see that phrase, do a string search for it (usually by pressing Control-F). Salter begins with a picture of a 767 in the correct orientation (ironically provided by Holmgren), shrinks it so it has a 20 by 20 pixel resolution to match the aircraft image in the Naudet video (actually it should have a resolution of only 10 in the vertical direction because of interlaced scanning), and shows the result with the usual interpolation performed by video display programs. Except for different coloration (the tail of the WTC1 plane was brightly reflecting the sun), the image is nearly identical to that in the Naudet video! All of the "blobs" are in the same positions! The wings are more visible, but if half of the 20 scan lines were removed to simulate interlaced video displayed one field at a time, the wings would be much less visible, and would appear and disappear in various fields, just as they do when you watch the video at high magnification in slow motion. The Subject line of Holmgren's e-mail, "...the question which so terrified Salter", is part of the Webfairy-Holmgren smear campaign. Salter *has* answered Holmgren's deceptive false-dichotomy question by performing the above analysis, thus *demonstrating* the correct method and reasoning, which is neither of Holmgren's two false choices. And in doing so he has demonstrated that the Naudet aircraft image *was* produced by a large 767-style airplane. (Of course the video contains no information that can indicate whether it was a passenger, freight, or military plane of that size and shape, let alone Flight 11 in particular, if that flight even existed on that day.) As I've explained elsewhere, the motion of entry of the planes into the towers, and the holes they left, are entirely consistent with the way large planes would behave in collision with the tower columns according to the principles of physics. This provides confirmation of the analysis of the videos. Mark On Sat, Jan 21, 2006 at 08:35:14PM -0600, Webfairy wrote: >-------- Original Message -------- >Subject: FW: Will Bilk answer the question which so terrified Salter ? >Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 12:33:17 +1100 >From: Gerard Holmgren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: 'The Webfairy' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Mark Bilk has made it clear that he believes that a large passenger jet >hit the Nth tower of the WTC. > >I think we can all agree that the simple stating of an opinion is not >the same as constructing an argument for that opinion. > >I think we can also agree that if the validity of an opinion is to be >tested and debated, then all parties must be made aware of exactly what >argument is being employed in order to reach the opinion which is the >subject of the debate. > >I think we can also agree that there is a video which shows the object >under discussion in flight towards the WTC. > > From this point of agreement, the possibilities diverge. There are two >quite different arguments which Bilk could use in support of his >opinion. Because I am not clear which of these arguments he chooses to >use, I would like him to clarify that for us, so that we know what we >are arguing about. > >Here are the possible arguments which one might develop in order to >sustain the opinion that a large jet hit the Nth tower. > >(If anyone thinks of any potential argument which I overlooked, then >please let us know ) > >1) The video of the object quite clearly shows from visual observation >alone that it is a large passenger jet. Argument becomes superfluous >because it is a matter of direct sensory observation, much as >distinguishing an image of a horse from that of an elephant, and if >someone else sees the image differently, there is no rational process by >which the difference of opinion can be resolved. > >Is this Bilk's argument ? If so, perhaps he can explain why he has spent >so much time on explaining why the object does not look like a large >passenger jet ? Resolution, pixels etc. Ultimately it either looks one >or it doesn't. > >2) Direct observation of the object is inconclusive. It is unclear, >indistinct, not identifiable from its appearance. Thus direct visual >observation neither confirms nor rebuts the assertion that it is a large >passenger jet. The object could be plausibly speculated to be any number >of objects, known or unknown. Thus, in order to reach the conclusion >that it is a large passenger jet, one has turned to evidence of an >ancillary nature -- eg forensic, witness, documentation, and in that >ancillary evidence has found strong indications that the object was a >large passenger jet. Since the visual data, although not confirming such >an identification does not actually contradict it, one is therefore >concluding that it's a large passenger jet on grounds other than the >visual appearance of the object. > >Is this Bilk's argument ? > >Either argument may well be valid, subject to testing through the debate >process, but one cannot simultaneously argue both positions. > >One cannot simultaneously argue poor video resolution as a reason for it >not being visually identifiable as a large jet, while at the same time >claiming that it is visually identifiable as a large jet. > >One or the other. > >So if Bilk will specify for us which argument he subscribes to, then a >debate can proceed. > >Eric and Brian Salter and Jim Hoffman, when pressed on this question all >refused to identify their argument in the debate linked here > >http://members.iinet.net.au/~holmgren/salter.hrml > >Perhaps Bilk can show them how its done. > Search the archives for political-research at http://www.terazen.com/ Subscribe to the RSS feed for political-research at http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/political-research/rss Yahoo! 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