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Curt Schilling and Logical Fallacies
Former star major-league pitcher and current ESPN broadcaster Curt Schilling found himself running afoul of proper online sensibilities today when he tweeted (and then deleted) a picture comparing Nazis to contemporary Islamic extremism.
Naturally, outrage followed, particularly from Gawker Media’s Deadspin, which referred to Schilling as a “big idiot.” (Watch out, Oscar Wilde!) As expected, Schilling was savaged in the comments, and the discussion quickly turned to how Republican presidential candidates are roughly as extremist as Islamic terrorists.
What most pointedly caught my attention was the casualness with which critics changed the analogy that was being made by the graphic Schilling tweeted.
The point, quite obviously, is that only takes a small percentage of a group to create an evil that is so powerful that the world must confront it.
Breaking it down further, the construction of the proposition is as follows: A small percentage of “X” are “A.” A small percentage of “Y” were “B.”
This is crucial, because “A” is being compared to “B.” Schilling’s critics are stating matter-of-factly that he compared “X” to “B.”
But let’s never let logic or facts get in the way of social-media outrage.
A quick check of Twitter shows prominent voice after prominent voice ignoring the essential “extremist” portion, and simply claiming (lying) that Schilling compared “Muslims” to “Nazis,” rather than comparing extremists to Nazis, which is what actually happened. Examples of this spin can be found here, here, here, and here, among other places that have slammed Schilling as “racist” or “Islamophobic.”
As expected, ESPN has condemned Schilling’s “totally unacceptable” tweet without explaining exactly what it was that was unacceptable. Is it because they think he said all Muslims are Nazi-like? Or that he said extremists are Nazi-like? Or that they interpreted his comment to mean that 5% to 10% is low?
Whatever the specific reason, ESPN has seen fit to pull Schilling from coverage of the Little League World Series. There’s at least a decent chance he’ll lose his job over this.
I have a few questions to ask the left-leaning writers who have called Schilling a “bigot”:
- Do you agree that there are violent Muslim extremists in the world?
- Do you agree that they are, in an organized way, making territorial advances and committing heinous acts of violence in the Middle East?
- Given those similarities, do you agree that, like Nazism before it, the world must confront this evil if it is to be stopped?
If the answer to all three questions is “yes,” then the objections to Schilling are hollow. If the answer to any of the three is “no,” then critics’ footing in reality is not as firm as they might suppose.
Published in Sports
Even the Washington Post got it right, by the way. But OUTRAGE TWITTER can’t be bothered with such nonsense. Pitchforks and torches are more fun than accuracy!
I am confused on why anybody would be outraged at that tweet. Its pretty tame by twitter standards.
Schilling is one of the few outspoken Republicans / conservatives at a mainstream outlet. Any time there’s an opportunity to hammer him, they’ll take it. It’s a chance to purify the mainstream and further remove badthought. See also Chris Broussard, who believes in the traditional, Biblical idea of sexual chastity (which naturally puts him on the wrong side of history as surely as it puts a bullseye on his back).
ESPN once again proves itself to be the MSNBC of sports. What kind of a white guilt-ridden, self-hating poltroon must one be to think that there is anything wrong with comparing Islamic extremism to Nazism? There is even a historical connection between the two.
It also seems particularly true. What about ISIS is any better than what the Nazis were doing? And, if given the chance, what do you think ISIS would do with bussloads of Jews?
To me, it is more outrageous that anyone would be even slightly offended by the comparison. Or, for that matter, by the comparison of Planned Parenthood to Nazis. As I’ve said multiple times, liberals avoid historical examples by pointing at you, sayign “Godwin’s Law!” and laughing as if they’ve made some sort of point.
Did anyone tell the ESPN suits that the Nazis ran the media and purged anyone with a dissenting view?
I’m partial to Curt Schilling, not only because he led my beloved Arizona Diamondbacks to a World Series victory, but also because he was one grade behind me at Shadow Mountain High School in north Phoenix. (I taught him everything he knows.)
I think the % of Germans supporting the Nazis in 1940 was considerably higher than 7%, though perhaps less than a majority (depending on what you mean by “supporting”)
On the other hand, the % of Muslims justifying terrorism may be greater than 5-10%
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/opinion-polls.htm
…with big differences by country
I read the first half of that sentence and now all I can think about is Mariano Rivera’s throwing error in game 7. That bothered me more than the bloody sock. Thanks a lot.
I always love Curt (shame we couldn’t win one when he was here), but especially for his World Series interview in ’04 he reminded people to get out and vote for George W. Bush.
A similar switcheroo happened with Donald Trump. He said, taking his words at face value, that most illegal immigrants are rapists. That got twisted into him saying that most Mexicans are rapists, which is a worse thing to say.
I also remember someone on MSNBC compared Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty to ISIS, and Facebook leftists applauded. I think there was some outrage about that, but that outrage was justified. Phil Robertson hasn’t murdered anyone, and he’s not going to murder anyone.
Curt Schilling’s an idiot but not because of this.
Why, they would give them all rights accorded to dhimmis under strict Sharia, of course: Second class status under the law, public humiliation, and being subject to false accusations of blasphemy by whatever Muslim wants their wife, children or possessions.
Humiliate the Dhimmi™ is just part of the full experience for the faithful in Jihadiland™. There’s also the Distrubution of Loot™ booth, the Slave Market™, the Captives of the Right Hand™ ride, and then in the Dar al Harb pavilion, the ever popular and ultrarealistic Kill the Kuffar™ (3 30 round magazines with admission, additional provided at an extra charge) and at no additional charge, the Strike Them in the Neck™ full immersion experience; blades available for rental. Dry cleaning available for an additional charge.
I wonder if Curt Schilling reads Dan Greenfield at Sultan Knish.com. He recently formulated a very well articulated point that moderate Muslims are very analogous to the moderate Nazis who chose not to oppose the holocaust because it didn’t affect them directly. The concept is one that I have been pondering since I read it and it needs to be part of the conversation if conversation about Islam is ever going to be possible.
The Nazis took pains to keep their atrocities secret from the outside world, and attempted at the close of the war to destroy the evidence of those atrocities. They retained vestiges of shame if not decency.
ISIS makes videos of theirs, and post them on the Internet as a recruiting tool.
So you see, there are differences.
Hah – I’d be willing to bet that wiping them off the face of the earth would be the first strategy, with “full rights of the dhimmis” coming in a distant second. Now, the Koran does call for an attempt to be made at conversion, but given the deep hatred involved, I think the tendency to ignore that mandate would be pretty high.
If you’re a liberal you have to do something really outrageous like pee out of a window on to a cop, publically yell “F*** Notre Dame!”, or be caught on video berating a towing employee.
Most other suspendable or firing offenses are limited to insulting other ESPN employees or – GASP – having a non-flattering opinion about Roger Goodell.
I blame the guy who taught him everything he knows.
Who owns ESPN, again?
It’s quite acceptable in public discourse in Europe to declare that Israel is as bad as, or worse than, the Nazis, or that Gaza is equivalent to the Warsaw Ghetto. This drives me round the bend. So to be consistent I have to say that Mr Schilling, great man that he may be, has indulged in hyperbole. ISIS are depraved but they have a long way to go to match the industrialists of the Fatherland.
Is it these guys?
I don’t understand the outrage. Are they saying that Schilling is slandering the Nazis? OK, but who would complain about that?
“Hah – I’d be willing to bet that wiping them off the face of the earth would be the first strategy, with “full rights of the dhimmis” coming in a distant second. Now, the Koran does call for an attempt to be made at conversion, but given the deep hatred involved, I think the tendency to ignore that mandate would be pretty high.”
True, ISIS is enthusiastically trying to immanentize the eschaton — at which point the legendary tree will betray Jews trying to hide behind it — but until that happens, the full Sharia experience needs the Caliphate (check,) constant jihad and all the appurtences thereof (so far so good,) which includes getting People of the Book to submit and become dhimmis in the Dar al Islam (working on it.)
Besides, at least some Jews have to survive for the tree prophecy to be fulfilled.
It may be FoxSports, but there is also this: “Craig James filed suit against Fox Sports… ‘Fox Sports fired James for one reason only: his religious beliefs about marriage. In so doing, Fox Sports violated the law. Specifically, Fox Sports violated the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (‘TCHRA’) and Texas contract law along with a myriad of equitable principles.’ ‘This is very troubling as an employee when your boss holds against you something you said about your belief system nearly eighteen months before you were recruited and hired.’ James counters he didn’t say ‘those things’ at Fox Sports but rather in the context of a political campaign over a year before he joined the network.”
BUSSSSHHHHHH!! And climate change. Tax the 1% and destroy the patriarchy.
That answer your question?
See also Williams, Hank Jr.
Fox Sports claims to have dismissed Craig James because he abused his previous position at ESPN to get Texas Tech head football coach Mike Leach fired.
(((A similar switcheroo happened with Donald Trump. He said, taking his words at face value, that most illegal immigrants are rapists. That got twisted into him saying that most Mexicans are rapists, which is a worse thing to say.)))
Actually he didn’t use the modifier “illegal”. He said “when Mexico sends its people”….. They’re sending people who have lots of problems….
How is Schilling’s post inflammatory, or inaccurate?
We should all post it.
The truth is its own defense. The more we cower and give in to the left, the more we lose.