:: This statement is false. ::

Thursday, December 19, 2002

Wow.

The horrible flaw in this specious logic is, as Sabiha Khan notes in the article, is that people trying to avoid the ire of the US government probably wouldn’t show up to peacefully register. By doing this the INS has guaranteed that next time they ask people to come in voluntarily, not only will there be a far diminished turnout, but there won’t be a single person with any connection to a terrorist organization among them.

This reminds me of the press release the pentagon issued which stated they were going to start spreading disinformation via a newly formed department. Look: if I trust you, and you’re going to lie to me, don’t tell me you’re about to lie to me.

example:

Bob: Hey there Arturo, how long have we been friends?
Arturo: Hmmm... Well, all of our lives.
B: That’s right. Oh, hey - from now on, I’ll be sporadically inserting false information into everything I say, on the off chance that it might trip up someone malicious.
A: Ok. Well, am I the only one you told about this?
B: No, I told everyone I know, and put out a release on the newswire.
A: But if people know that you’re going to be telling falsehoods, you’ll be discredited; they’ll just ignore everything you say.
B: Oh. I therefore rescind my earlier statement.
A: Wait... was that a lie?
B: I don’t know.
A: I have no choice but to assume that everything you now say is false.

[the pentagon later retracted its announcement]

Posted by morland @ 05:44 PM

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