From: perlman@qso.Colorado.EDU (Eric S. Perlman)
Subject: Re: Can Mr. Perlman back up his claims? (was  Re: Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian boy)
Summary:  Dr. Arens is trying to confuse the issue...
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 17:04:07 GMT

In article <23086@venera.isi.edu> arens@ISI.EDU (Yigal Arens) writes:
>In article <1992Dec17.151119.29483@colorado.edu> perlman@qso.Colorado.EDU (Eric S. Perlman) writes:
>>
>> In article <23075@venera.isi.edu> arens@ISI.EDU (Yigal Arens) writes:
>> >As for Mr. Perlman himself, I can only end by reminding our readers that
>> >while he has responded to my challenge (to find ONE example -- which
>> >although not perfect, I'm willing to accept for now), he has done
>> >absolutely NOTHING to defend his original claim, which I reproduce
>> >below, in case he's forgotten it:
>>
>> Don't bother.  You've provided absolutely no evidence to impugn it, Dr.
>> Arens.  You've tried to impugn it by innuendo, deliberate twisting of
>> Mr. Damiri's writings, and the like.  That simply will not wash. 
>
>Mr. Perlman is, as he has done in past arguments with me and possibly
>others, confusing Usenet arguments ABOUT the state of the world with the
>ACTUAL state of the world.  I included my reminder above, to try to
>bring reality back to his attention.

No, I haven't.  I will remind the Usenet public that I directly refuted
his misstatements about Mr. Damiri.  Mr. Arens twisted Mr. Damiri's
words in order to form a basis for his reply.  I pointed that out, and I
reiterate it here.  I confuse no arguments, Dr. Arens.  You, on the
other hand, seemingly can't take a person at face value when that person
says something that contradicts your world-view.

>Mr. Perlman's original claim, not prompted by me and not related to
>anything I said, was:
>
>> >> ...  I do know that numerous
>> >> PLO-affiliated activists who've stated even slightly non-standard
>> >> opinions have been forced to seek protection from Israeli authorities
>
>Mr. Perlman can accuse me of anything he wants, but for him to be
>considered credible, he should be able to back up this statement that he
>made.  Even if he succeeds in demonstrating to the whole world that I am
>an ignorant fool -- he still needs to be able to back his statement up.
>
>Simply claiming that "[Yigal has] provided absolutely no evidence to
>impugn it" will not suffice, I'm afraid.  Mr. Perlman said that HE KNOWS
>something.  There is little *I* can do to expose much about his state of
>mind, nor is it my responsibility.  The truth of his claim to such
>knowledge as he describes above is, unfortunately for Mr. Perlman,
>something that only he needs to conclusively demonstrate.

Come now, Dr. Arens.  One claim can be evidence of a trend.  You have
certainly tried to use far far less evidence to push far larger claims
on this net.  I have provided an instance.  I have also provided
evidence that the vast majority of those killed by Palestinian factions
in the Intifada are completely innocent.  That's quite a lot of
circumstantial evidence.  Whether I have more is not the point.  You
have yet to produce one shred of evidence for any of your statements on
the matter.  I think I am quite justified in waiting even for that first
shred.  I'm not holding my breath.

Dr. Arens, let me ask you one question:  you have repeatedly taken  my
words out of context and twisted them from my intent in numerous debates
on Usenet.  I have shown this numerous times.  I have now also shown,
beyond any doubt, that you've done the same thing to Mr. Damiri's
statements (see the previous message in this thread).  Further, you seem
to base many, if not most of your arguments on just such distortions of
statements others have made.  Is it any wonder that I, and others, doubt
your objectivity?

-- 
"How sad to see/A model of decorum and tranquillity/become like any other sport
A battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee." -Tim Rice,"Chess"
     Eric S. Perlman 				 <perlman@qso.colorado.edu> 
  Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado, Boulder
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast