On 30-12-2009 20:39, Warp wrote:
> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>> On 30-12-2009 18:22, Warp wrote:
>>> gregjohn <pte### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
>>>> What the free market IS very good at is giving consumers exactly what they want
>>>> in the marketplace. If they want lunch counters completely free of persons with
>>>> dark skin, then the marketplace will provide it. If they want gas guzzlers that
>>>> pose fatality risks to neighbors in collisions, and raise sea levels, the
>>>> marketplace will provide them.  If they want sustainably grown organic coffee,
>>>> the marketplace will prove them.  If they want the absolutely cheapest
>>>> chocolate, the market will provide it using (literal) slave labor from Africa.
>>>   I'm sorry, but that was one of the most ridiculous things I have read in
>>> a long time.
>>>
>>>   You are equating capitalism with racism? That must be the most far-fetched
>>> comparison I have ever heard in my life.
> 
>> That deserves a price as one of the most far fetched straw man arguments 
>> I heard in a long time.
> 
>   And that deserves a price as one of the most far-fetched straw man cards
> I have heard in a long time.
> 
>   You would have to explain why you pulled the straw man card in this
> situation.
> 

It is rather obvious I would say. First your remark directly followed 
gregjohn's chocolate from Africa remark. Going from Africa to racism is 
completely ridiculous, so that is what prompted my remark in the first 
place.
Second, you later indicated that your remark was not aimed at the 
chocolate but at one of the other remarks from gregjohn some time before 
that. That is still a straw man, because you take one remark out of 
context and attack that. Third and most importantly, gregjohn said 
simply that unbridled capitalism may lead to all sorts of wanted and 
unwanted side effects like environmental damage, green products, and 
racism (using examples that not only may happen but, at least partly, 
have happened). Going from 'capitalism may lead to among other things 
racism' to 'capitalism equals racism' and attacking that is a straw man 
argument.
In short: you took one of the examples, pulled it out of context, 
distorted it and tried to ridicule the result. Classic example of straw 
man I would say.
I am sure you meant something different and more intelligent, but this 
is what appeared in this news group, sorry.

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