On Thu, Jan 24, 2002 at 10:34:54AM +0100, Baardwijk, J. van DTO/SLWPD/RZO/BOZO wrote: > > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > > Van: Erik Reuter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Verzonden: woensdag 23 januari 2002 19:01 > > Aan: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Onderwerp: Re: Dutch & US Media > > > > The statement made by that reporter is not necessarily false. The > > > fact that such statements are not *typical* of the Dutch media does > > > not mean that such statements are always by definition false. > > > > If it is true, then the logical conclusion from your statements is that > > you believe that the Dutch media is either incompetent or censoring, > > since it would be untypical for them to report a true statement that > > has far reacing consequences for the world. > > If the statement is true, then the logical conclusion is that the Dutch > media are neither incompetent nor censoring. > > If the statement is false, then the logical conclusion is that the reporter > got his information wrong, not that the Dutch media are incompetent or > censoring, because, being Dutch myself, I *know* that they are neither > incompetent nor censoring. >
I wonder if your impersonation skills are better than this "logic"? I hope so, because the logic needs some work. The statement under consideration is either true or false. That a Dutch media agent made the statement is either typical of Dutch media or atypical. That makes 4 possibilities. 1) true/typical: the Dutch media is good and America is evil 2) false/typical: the Dutch media is in the habit of making false statements 3) false/atypical: everyone makes an occasional mistake, including the Dutch media and Jeroen 4) true/atypical: the Dutch media only rarely reports true statements that have far-reaching world consequences (goodness knows what they typically report on) Remember, you have denied that #1 and #2 are the case. So your choices are #3 or #4. Or choice #5, which is retreat to a world of twisted logic, which is my prediction, since it seems to happen frequently. -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.com/
