I think Karen has fallen for Mr Howard's false logic.
In one sentence he's quoted as saying mandatory sentencing is not to blame;
people who say that, he implies, are wrong. That is his conclusion.
In the next sentence he provides his reasoning: it's not credible that
mandatory sentencing 'was the only cause'. But who ever claimed it was the
_only_ cause? No one, of course; no one would be so silly.
But see his slippery logic here! Because anyone who said it was the _only_
cause would be plainly wrong, his conclusion is that it can't be blamed.
Meaning: can't be blamed _at all_. He invents a class of people who, he
asserts, say something stupid, and then behaves as if that somehow justified
his conclusion.
In fact Karen isn't just falling for his 'straw man' argument. She's
indulging in some shonky logic herself.
She says Howard 'is for once correct' (meaning, naturally, that she agrees
with him), so, she concludes, 'people who are making this a race issue' are
wrong.
What does she mean he's correct about? That mandatory sentencing wasn't the
_sole_ cause of the young man's suicide? OK, let's say he is right about
that. But what's that got to do with her conclusion that race is not an
issue here?
Or does she mean he's right to say mandatory sentencing isn't to blame
(meaning: isn't to blame at all). She might think so, but, even if she was
right, it wouldn't follow that race isn't to blame (meaning: isn't to blame
at all). That is simply her opinion presented as if it followed logically
from something that was 'correct'.
I could go on. For example, about the argument that because people of other
races 'commit suicide while in detention centres and jails', therefore this
particular tragedy must be 'a mental health issue'. Or about finding out
'what really bothered him enough for him to kill himself', when we had a
Royal Commission into this very question and it concluded that race was
indeed an issue in such deaths.
Come on, Karen. Believe what it suits you to believe, but don't try to kid
us that you have a logical basis for it. You're putting yourself in the same
class as 'Honest John' himself.
Jack Ellis
Seattle, WA
USA
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Karen Crook
Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2000 2:32 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [recoznet2] Australia not breaching international treaties
- PM
> However, he said it was wrong to blame mandatory sentencing for
> the boy's death.
> 'I don't think that it can be credibly argued that that
> (mandatory sentencing) was the only cause of that very
> very tragic incident,' Mr Howard said.
Mr Howard for once is correct - so why is everyone making this a race issue?
Why don't people look into his family and friends and find out what really
bothered him enough for him to kill himself?? And what about all the other
races which commit suicide while in detention centres and jails? People care
about them too but it's not a race issue, it is a mental health issue.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Graham Young
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 4:23 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [recoznet2] Australia not breaching international treaties
- PM
Well, he will be proved right or wrong after Mary Robinson has had a look,
but I couldn't say much for his logic. This could end up being a very
embarrassing press comment, and in this context embarrassing = damaging.
I had assumed that Kofi Annan kept quiet because he understood that his
comments could actually inflame the situation and that the government would
be more likely to do the right thing if he held his peace and allowed
pressure to occur at more subterranean levels.
Howard's comments later in the interview seem to indicate that no strategy
is going to change his mind.
Graham Y
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