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Letter: Thoughts on careless anti-Don Flood letters

February 19, 2019

Steve Hyle and Geary Foertsch each wrote anti-Don Flood letters Feb. 12 that were based on a lot of illogical arguments and defective thinking. 

Mr. Hyle’s phrase “if only they [the blind] would choose to see” presumes that he has a monopoly on truth. Think about this: it is a historical fact that since a couple hundred years ago, and going back way before that, people widely believed in the existence of witchcraft (magic, sorcery, etc.). Empirical science has shown that witchcraft does not exist despite its popularity in some of today’s fantasy-escapist entertainment. Therefore, a lot of people were seeing something (witches) that did not exist.

In contrast, history books describe witch trials (eg. Salem, Mass., and in at least a number of countries in Europe, over several hundred years) in which hundreds to thousands of accused witches underwent trials by fire or water, and all burned to death or drowned. Since history books are not science books, the obvious question was rarely asked - let alone answered - as to whether there was a reliability problem with the tests for witches because the only outcomes of the tests were dead bodies.

Therefore, a lot of people, conversely, failed to see something that did exist (nothing but dead bodies) and think “Hey, there is something wrong here.”  So, Mr. Hyle needs to do more than talk about who can see or not see, and he also needs to establish a warranty on the validity of statements or conclusions.

Mr. Hyle also said (it’s his opinion, not a fact) that President Trump was: 1) not a politician, 2) neither a Republican nor a Democrat, and 3) not bound by party loyalty or influence, and that makes him a great guy. In my opinion, Mr. Trump is more like a carnival barker, most likely interested in filling his wallet with your money and handing you back a bottle containing a nostrum with a label on the bottle that says “For any problem, big or small, including heart disease and cancer.” Trump, however, does have a good sales pitch: it works like a cult leader on cult followers.

He makes some noise and his followers hear it as music. I think the people who hear Trump’s noise for what it is (noise) are the ones who end up in the 52-54 percent polls that disapprove of Trump (compared to the 40-42 percent that approve of Trump).  So, if anything, Mr. Hyle has shown me that he does not have a monopoly on truth, and is otherwise seeing something that doesn’t exist, or not seeing something that does exist, and has not demonstrated any skill in differentiating reality from fantasy. 

Mr. Foertsch treats the big and complex and serious immigration-border-wall-drug-illegals-in-America problem with a vague “the sky is falling” alarm call for ASAP action. He then brings three issues into the picture: 1) the Trump border wall project, 2) “30 million illegals” in the USA, and 3) a story of massive drug inflow into the USA from Mexico using a fleet of trucks.  But those trucks are going to be traveling on roads going through checkpoints where the officials don’t (and practicably cannot) tear down every vehicle to search extensively for hidden compartments and then reassemble all the parts again.

Any wall is going to be built away from checkpoints and not stop the flow of vehicles with hidden compartments from going through checkpoints. Moreover, many reports I have read say that a substantial number of illegals are here by overstaying their visas. This means they entered legally through legal points of entry, and walls will not stop this. Also, Mr. Foertsch did not explain how the wall will get those “30 million illegals” out of the USA.

Foertsch is welcome to just say Don Flood is soft on border security, etc., but what he wrote was pretty incoherent.

Arthur E. Sowers
Harbeson

 

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