Category Archives: Logic

Oy Vey, Owens: Candace’ Nationalism Arguments Are Confused

Argument, Europe, Fascism, Logic, Nationhood, Political Philosophy, Reason, Republicans, War

As appealing as she is as an activist, Candace Owens is no clear thinker. She certainly manages to confuse with her default definition of nationalism vis-a-vis the Trump Revolution.

The setting: Some moronic, white-nationalism Congressional hearings.
There, Owens roughly asserted that “Hitler killed his own people hence he was not a nationalist,” which is a non sequitur.

Ms. Owens here is proceeding from the asserted premise—for she doesn’t argue it—that nationalists do not “kill their own people.” This may be true (but would further depend on definitions; what is meant by “own people”), although I very much doubt it. Nevertheless, it appears that Owens’ thought process is something like,

“I like nationalism [check], and, therefore, Hitler, whom I most certainly don’t like, and who was a monster, could not have been a nationalist.”

Consider: Like all Republicans, Owens, no doubt, adores Lincoln. But would she call Honest Abe a nationalist? Why not? I mean, nationalism is a good thing and Abe, say Republicans like Owens, was a good guy.

Well, there is the pesky fact of Lincoln having killed “his own people” … hmmm. By Owens’ seemingly dogmatic definition of nationalism (not killing your own people), Lincoln, at least, does not qualify as a nationalist.

Just so we’re clear.

What preceded Owens’ odd assertion above was an even stranger comment, again, about Hitler. (This was at the same moronic, white-nationalism Congressional hearings.)

“If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well — OK, fine,” she says. “The problem is … he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize. He wanted everybody to be German.”

The problem with Hitler? Heavens! Where does one start? It was not that he was a “globalist.” (Is that the kind of “globalist” George Soros Citizen of The World is, Candace?)

How about that Hitler is synonymous with conquest, subjugation, slavery and industrialized mass murder in the service of world hegemony, which, he truly believed, would make Germany  indisputably the greatest power?

the presumed successor of the medieval and early modern Holy Roman Empire of 800 to 1806 (the First Reich) and the German Empire of 1871 to 1918 (the Second Reich)

 

Emergency At The Border? Depends On Your Definition Of ‘Emergency’

Crime, Democrats, Donald Trump, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Logic, Republicans

It’s all in the definition of an emergency. To the progressive Demopublicans, an endless stream of uninvited migrants swamping the country is not an emergency. Open borders are a good thing, never an emergency.

Dallas Times:

They came in pairs, by the dozens, hundreds. In one group, as many as 400 immigrants crossed the border here in a single, massive group.

Many are families. And some would soon sleep for the first time on U.S. soil — but out in the open, under the stars, because federal agents are having a difficult time processing them and getting them to shelter.

“What we’re seeing is something I haven’t seen in at least 10 years,” said Joe Romero, a veteran U.S. Border Patrol agent.

And yet, when asked whether he was witnessing an emergency on the border, Romero paused and kept his eyes on the road. He and his partner drove slowly Wednesday in the shadow of a fence, long stretches of it lined with migrants waiting to be transported to begin the process of seeking asylum.

To The Economist, the fact that there are fewer individuals crossing unimpeded into the US than in years past implies that … there is no emergency.

If America has a border crisis, it comes not from any sort of invasion—in the year to September 2018, the authorities caught 396,579 people trying to cross the southern border, fewer than half as many as in 2007

Logic is not a strong suit, these days.

… as of September there was a backlog of 319,000 pending asylum cases. Between 2010 and 2017 the number of asylum claims filed annually rose from 28,000 to 143,000, with many coming from Venezuela, Guatemala and El Salvador. Political instability and violence in Central America pushes people north. But some are also drawn by America’s inefficient asylum system, which lets people stay and work while their claims are assessed.

The real problem is structural. America’s immigration-enforcement system was designed to cope with the sort of migration that historically came from Mexico—single men looking for work, eager to dodge immigration police. It is not suited to today’s flow, which consists largely of families and children eager to present themselves to police so they can claim asylum. Sadly, ambitious immigration reform has eluded Washington for years, and this administration is unlikely to take up that poisoned chalice (see Lexington).

See “The Master Builder.“

AND, coming in drives for all that free stuff.

 

MERCER’S Like A Man …

Britain, English, Gender, Ilana Mercer, Logic

My reply to John’s recent email about the Mercer writing style and thinking being like those of a man:

“Yes, I like that. But most men no longer write, think or behave like men ought to.
Post your comment to my Unz Review column and you’ll see THE REACTION you get from THE MINI MEN who dog me.”

Just one example.

The oracular Dr. Sam Johnson, from his perspective in England of the 1770s, would have caned these mini men for their lack of manners. He certainly would have failed the prose of most men and women today for its billowing, self-indulgent quality.

—–Original Message—–
From: John
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2019 1:54 AM
To: ilana@ilanamercer.com
Subject: Re: NEW COLUMN: Covington Kid: Hated For The Color Of His Skin

Well considered and written.

A few years ago I said you wrote like a man. …

Well now I think you also think like one. So In you, I’ve found the best of both sexes…

…

Best wishes, John

NEW COLUMN: Dead By Illegal Alien? You’re Just An Anecdote

Crime, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Individualism Vs. Collectivism, Logic, Reason

NEW COLUMN IS “Dead By Illegal Alien? You’re Just An Anecdote.” It’s on WND.COM, The Unz Review and Townhall.com (only slightly abridged).

An excerpt:

THE topic: American lives snuffed out by illegal aliens.

The forum: The ubiquitous, Fox News, dual-perspective panel that never fails to dim debate.

Arguing in favor of letting potential killers come: Geraldo Rivera, a former daytime talk-show, bosom buddy of Sean Hannity, and a permanent fixture on Fox.

The Rivera “argument”: That some criminal aliens kill is incidental and immaterial to their status as uninvited, unvetted interlopers.  

Here are some of the stories Geraldo dismisses as anecdotes sensationalized:

The latest in a string of bereaved parents to appear on TV are the parents of young Pierce Corcoran, 22, killed by Franco Cambrany Francisco-Eduardo (44), recipient of the U.S. Professional Drunk-Driver Immigration Visa. And in 2012, a man named Ramon Hernandez took the tiniest of victims. Dimitri Smith, of blessed memory, was killed in-utero by this recipient of the same visa. The deceased preemie was shown on CNN, in 2012, being held for the last time by young mother Aileen Smith, before being laid to rest.

“In the last two years,” said a solemn President Trump, in his Jan. 8 address from the Oval Office, “ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of aliens with criminal records including those charged or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent killings. Over the years, thousands of Americans have been brutally killed by those who illegally entered our country and thousands more lives will be lost if we don’t act right now.”

It seems crystal clear that, were it not for Geraldo’s plucky, uninvited visitors—more American than a lot of Americans, sneered Comrade Ocasio-Cortez—there would likely be 100,000 fewer assaults in America, 30,000 fewer sex crimes in America, and 4,000 fewer murders in America.

It seems perfectly clear that young Pierce Corcoran would be alive, if not for a bad hombre who had no business being in the country.

Clear to you and me, but not to “brother” Rivera (Mr. Hannity’s appellation for this idiot).

With the same logical illiteracy that has been given sanctuary and sinecure on Fox News, Mr. Rivera proceeded to make his “case”:

“I would feel equally pained,” he roared, “were the killer Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican or Jewish, young or old.”

Could a killer illegal alien be “Irish, Italian, Puerto Ricans or Jewish, old or young”? Certainly. But these categories are irrelevant and superfluous to the central point. Rivera is mixing it up; mixing logical categories to the point of moral incoherence.

This studied stupidity led Rivera, in short succession, to his next point: American lives lost and recounted “sensationally” on television were “anecdotes.”

To be charitable, Geraldo here is following his own breaking-eggs-for-omelets argument—and it is that, since the murderers are statistical outliers, the murders they commit are the exception to the rule in what is an exceptional immigrant community.

The logic doesn’t add up, but the numbers of the dead do—each life lost is precious. Each loss comes with a world of hurt that never heals.

Death by illegal alien is not about group crime aggregates, as Geraldo contends. (In particular, his contention that illegal aliens commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans, therefore, let them come.)

Wrong. Death by illegal alien is about this life-cherishing, immutable logic:

If alien X HAD BEEN REMOVED from the U.S., as the law dictates, innocent American Y WOULD BE ALIVE TODAY. …

... READ THE REST. NEW COLUMN IS “Dead By Illegal Alien? You’re Just An Anecdote.” It’s on WND.COM, The Unz Review and Townhall.com (only slightly abridged).