Putting the Cart in the Right Place
For the truth, reverse the directions. (Click image to view full size)
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc is a Latin phrase meaning, “After that, therefore because of that”. It refers to the logical fallacy of concluding, without further probation, causality on the basis of temporality—that is, concluding that if event Y happened after event X, then X is the cause of Y. Investigation must be made to determine whether this is true. If false, then it can be likened to putting the cart before the horse.
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc is the fallacy we can see in those who assert that the Israel/“Palestine” conflict, or more specifically “the USA’s one-sided support for Israel over the Palestinians”, is the cause of or at least fuel for Islamic terrorism today. The evidence is against this, for Islamic terrorism is a menace in places where not even post-colonial “grievances”, let alone “one-sided support for Israel”, are to be found: Southern Thailand is the most prominent example of this. Also damning is the fact that there is no need for political issues in order for Muslims to be inflamed: a novel, a few cartoons, a medieval quote by the Pope and the knighting of the writer of the aforementioned novel is enough for achieving that effect.
The reason Israel was among the first to bear the continuous brunt of Islamic suicide terrorism is its being a non-Muslim state situated in the heartland of Islam. Therefore, to blame the now global threat of Islamic terrorism on Israel is precisely a case of putting the cart before the horse. Israel had acted as a lightning rod for Islamic imperialism for at least 40 years since its foundation; the fact that the Muslims now feel the time is right for implementing Ayatollah Khomeini’s (long may he roast in hell) exhortation from 1942, for every able-bodied Muslim to do jihad in all infidel lands once the conditions are suitable, is something Israel never had control over.
The Jews of Israel reject, even if their leaders out of sheer stupidity or venality do not, the idea that Islamic terrorism can be appeased by giving the Muslims tracts of Jewish land. The Jews call upon the world to realize that the only way to real, permanent peace is by repulsing the imperialist enemy, in Israel, in the USA, in the United Kingdom, in Serbia, in Ethiopia, in India, in Thailand—everywhere.
posted by ziontruth @ Tuesday, June 19, 2007
6 Comments:
hi there my friend..precisely...but alas the leftys have a form of reasoning that reason does not know.......Long Live Israel!
If the Danish cartoon episode couldn't convince the Western world that the mass of the muslim world is completely irrational, that nothing will. Sad, but true.
Michael,
I suspect the Danish cartoon episode did convince the western world of that irrationality. The catalyst will be when the western world is finally convinced that that irrationality threatens them individually. And when that happens, it's the people on the left who will be the first demanding action. I've seen this sort of thing before.
Angel,
Welcome back! (Meaning, my eyes welcome back your comments after being disconnected for so long.)
You don't say about lefty reasoning... my Daily Kos diary was ever so carefully tailored to fit the constraints of what could be called a "reality-based discussion", yet they kept on with their most unpragmatic stance of standing for "justice for the Palestinians, even at the price of proposals that are unacceptable to 99.99999% of the Israeli Jewish public" (i.e. stuff relating to 1947-9 rather than 1967). It's Dr. Reality-Based and Mr. Fiery Ideologue with the Kossacks, depending on what suits (e.g.: "Reality-based" when it's time to bash Bush and the "rethuglicans"; "fiery idealism" when the post-colonial, anti-Western narrative needs to be maintained).
I'm fed up of those guys. I intend to keep reading their Israel/"Palestine" diaries just for curiosity and maybe even the occasional new twist on an old argument, but I've ceased expecting anything new from them.
Michael,
I agree with the anonymous commenter that the Danish Cartoons Affair had much impact. Back when it happened, I saw LGF-like comments from people with otherwise Kossian politics. The only counter to this effect is the tendency to go back to sleep when it's all over. A point of light is that the Muslims are far too stupid, hot-headed to keep those states for long enough to reap the full gains from them.
ZY and Anon:
I'm not so sure. I think that the West's short memory and shorter attention span are a worse weakness than the muslim's periodic outbursts of violent irrationality are a threat.
Once the threat goes away, people just don't care anymore.
It's sad to say, but I think it'll take a terrorist act much worse than 9/11 to really wake up the West, and then it will be too late.
Michael,
I claim no special knowledge, perhaps you are right, although I hope not for all our sakes. But I've been around a long time, I've seen changes that no one seems to be really talking about. Many of my acquaintances and relatives identify as liberal and left, but they have no fire in the belly, they are certainly not footsoldiers in some future revolutionary army. They are ordinary, comfortable, middle-class people who live like everyone else, invest their money, plan for retirement, drive SUV's, send their kids to toney public or private schools, and do their best to distance themselves from the people they claim to empathize with. Their left-liberal ideology seems like so much playing dress-up. Perhaps it is simply wishful thinking not to see the danger, so it won't require any sacrifice of them. I sure don't see these people giving up their material advantages for anyone.
They may not acknowledge it, but they are just as concerned as anyone else, and when the day comes, they will be more virulent in their rage than anyone, precisely because they have refused to admit to themselves that it's there.
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