My statements were informed by evidence, and making a statement that it “risks” radicalizing more Muslims would be factually incorrect, since evidence that we do have shows that it does radicalize
That’s not true at all, and it’s easy to demonstrate with a thought experiment. Suppose I read a post on an internet by someone who says he spoke to a terrorist and the terrorist told him he was radicalized by reading Tsipursky’s posts on less wrong. To be sure, this is weak evidence that Tsipursky’s post are radicalizing people, but by your standards, it would be legitimate to say “Further posts by Tsipursky WILL radicalize more people.” Which is ridiculous, of course, but by your standard it would be correct.
We might talk about how many would be radicalized, but it would be false to state that aggressive western activities do not radicalize Muslims.
There is another possibility, which is that it is not known whether Western activities radicalize anyone. In other words, that the evidence is inconclusive. Surely you are aware of this possibility?
I see from the latter part of your comment now that you have come to a firm conclusion about my views
Pretty firm yeah—based on your complete failure to provide satisfactory evidence for your position; your dodging and weaving; and your failure to look for legitimate evidence.
and were arguing from that perspective all along.
If you had come up with evidence which stood up to scrutiny, then of course I would have revised my views. For example if anti-American terrorists were disproportionately from towns in Iraq as opposed to Syria, it would actually bolster your argument.
So it looks to me like you are again rationalizing—the fact is that your evidence has completely failed to stand up to scrutiny; you failed to take well-known biases into account; and rather than just admit it, you need a face-saving out.
That’s not true at all, and it’s easy to demonstrate with a thought experiment. Suppose I read a post on an internet by someone who says he spoke to a terrorist and the terrorist told him he was radicalized by reading Tsipursky’s posts on less wrong. To be sure, this is weak evidence that Tsipursky’s post are radicalizing people, but by your standards, it would be legitimate to say “Further posts by Tsipursky WILL radicalize more people.” Which is ridiculous, of course, but by your standard it would be correct.
There is another possibility, which is that it is not known whether Western activities radicalize anyone. In other words, that the evidence is inconclusive. Surely you are aware of this possibility?
Pretty firm yeah—based on your complete failure to provide satisfactory evidence for your position; your dodging and weaving; and your failure to look for legitimate evidence.
If you had come up with evidence which stood up to scrutiny, then of course I would have revised my views. For example if anti-American terrorists were disproportionately from towns in Iraq as opposed to Syria, it would actually bolster your argument.
So it looks to me like you are again rationalizing—the fact is that your evidence has completely failed to stand up to scrutiny; you failed to take well-known biases into account; and rather than just admit it, you need a face-saving out.