Re: DIPLOMACY: Memetic Morphing

Christian Weisgerber (naddy@mips.rhein-neckar.de)
16 Nov 1998 15:13:22 +0100

In article <002601be1136$fe3d77e0$7be9efc2@maxm.normik.dk>, Max M <extropians@extropy.com> wrote:

> If TV is a really great source of violence, then the natives of Rwanda must
> really have been watching a LOT of TV before they went out with machettes
> and killed several hundred thousands of their fellow citisens with
> machettes.

This is nonsense. You can't reverse a logical implication. If B follows from A, A doesn't necessarily follow from B. The Rwandian butchery, which can probably be subsumed under that catch-all of "ethnic conflicts", doesn't tell us anything about the influence of TV violence on (children in) Western society.

-- 
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                  naddy@mips.rhein-neckar.de
    carpe librum: books 'n' reviews <URL:http://www.carpe.com/buch/>