The Danger of Anecdotes

I wasn't going to write about Farenheit 9/11: I don't have time to scorn Michael Moore the way it is needed. But something from The New Republic (Hat tip: Pejmanesque) got me thinking. here is the quote in question:

Moore's argumentative strategy, however, rests on tricking audiences into believing otherwise. Having laid out his mostly unconvincing cases against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and having presented compelling scenes of Lipscomb grieving, military recruiters preying on the ignorance of teenagers, and congressmen fleeing questions about their children's military service, he pulls an intellectual sleight of hand that goes by so quickly--and indeed, that sounds so logical--that many viewers won't realize they've been tricked. In a voiceover, he says (and I'm paraphrasing pretty roughly here): I've always been amazed that in America the poor and working class do most of the fighting. That is their gift to us. And all they ask in return is that we don't send them to war unless we absolutely have to. The logical connection between the two thoughts here is patently absurd. (Is Moore implying that it's okay for the poor and working class to do most of the fighting as long as they are only sent to fight in necessary wars? Would it be okay to fight unnecessary wars if the military burden were properly balanced?) But it's also central to Moore's argument. He needs to be able to place his movie's best point--the brazen immorality of Lipscomb having to grieve her son while elites make no similar sacrifice--in the service of his larger argument, which is that Bush's wars have been unjust. So he eloquently conflates them, pumps up his soundtrack, and hopes viewers don't bother to think about what he's actually done.

I am sad for Mrs. Lipscomb's loss: it is the most terrible thing I can imagine to lose a child. Several people I know - including a couple of my closest friends - have been and/or will soon be in combat postings, and none of them are poor, though they also can't be classed as "the elites". But what about Pat Tillman's mother? Doesn't she disprove the case that it's only the poor fighting and dying in this war? Pat Tillman was nothing if not among the country's elite, by income and public acclaim if nothing else.

And if one anecdote can prove Moore's case, it only takes one to disprove it.

Posted by Jeff at June 29, 2004 03:56 PM | Link Cosmos