‘Assange won’t come’: Swedish MPs urge end to whistleblower case

[struggle4progress]

39. Paranoid hallucinations don't improve our understanding of the world

And people, who want to change the world a bit, need some realism to succeed in that endeavor

You are, of course, free to believe "Assange is prescient," if the thought pleases you

But it is unclear to me exactly how your assumption "Europe's willing accomplices obeyed the US request to force down the plane of Bolivia's head of state" could lead, by any normal reasoning, to a belief in the "prescience" of Assange

What you present, as argument, is (in fact) a collection of utterances that you approve merely because they fit together into a certain pre-chosen view of the world

Your assumption, that "Europe's willing accomplices obeyed the US request to force down the plane of Bolivia's head of state" (for example) is quite packed with unsupported claims, both explicit and implied

Your primary assumption is that "the plane of Bolivia's head of state was forced down" -- but (in fact) the Bolivian plane requested an emergency landing in Austria, citing possible fuel gauge malfunction, and that is not within the ordinary meaning of "the plane was forced down"

From this primary assumption, you and various others deduce that "the US asked Europeans to force down the plane of Bolivia's head of state." It might be interesting, and worthy of attention, if any evidence supported the claim -- but no direct evidence exists: all argument, advanced in support of the theory, presupposes (contrary to fact) that "the plane of Bolivia's head of state was forced down" and, on that basis, then attempts a circumstantial case that "the US asked Europeans to force down the plane of Bolivia's head of state." Such circumstantial argument lacks all merit when it rides upon a primary assumption completely contrary to fact

The assumptions continue from there: after "the US asked Europeans to force down the plane of Bolivia's head of state," we have the claim that "the Europeans forced down the plane of Bolivia's head of state." This (again) might be interesting, and worthy of attention, did evidence support the claim -- but it falls in presupposing "the plane was forced down"

I would urge you that, only by attending very carefully to the facts and avoiding sloppy summaries, can we obtain a view of current situations, accurate enough to enable us to think clearly