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It was always the case that a mean person could throw a rock at you and you'd die. Therefore, nuclear weapons are nothing to be worried about.

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It's 2 different statements. The first is true, even if you don't like it. The "therefore" is something you completely made up to make your point and imply something I neither said nor suggested.

You might not like it either but an arm race isn't new. The tools changed but competition, and thus threats, remain.

I agree with you, but argue with the form of the person we both replied to. Alhough I would prefer universal peace and international morality, I maintain a generally neutral position on nuclear arms. I am also neutral on the evergreen innocent idiocies of youthfulness.

This is a form of argument known as reductio ad absurdum. I see it more and more frequently now, often in dismissal of a fairly throughtful point of view, usually with a mocking and disdainful tone, and therefore nuclear weapons are nothing to worry about.

I'm not sure if reductio ad absurdum was about my point or theirs but just to be explicit, I didn't say it wasn't a problem or a big deal, only that that threats and competitions are not new. I clearly didn't make a moral or ethical statement about nuclear weapons.

Their's.

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