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Posted by joe shmo on April 18, 2002 at 05:22:54: In Reply to: Triva History Lesson posted by Sheila on April 18, 2002 at 04:10:24: A very interesting but nonetheless great example of wig-wam theory! The idea is that a number of facts can be selectively chosen that when presented seem to build a convincing argument for some new theory, these new fact consititute the wig-wam. However the facts whilst true do not prove an argument which ignores the vast body of evidence that explains a more reasonable explanation for events. This explanation like a large house overshadows the small wig-wam when examined and make it appear ridiculous. I don't mean to be negative, I did find the facts interesting even if I had seen them before. But a true understanding of history can only be attempted thru' a detailed examination of all the various factors involved at or before the time of the major historical incidents. Boring I know but as usual hard work and study result in deeper understanding. Kennedy wasn't assainated because he happened to be elected in a year ending in 0. There are more reasonable explanations I won't even go into. To say John F. Kennedy was very concerned with civil rights is just not true; at least no more so than his predecssor or successor. Johnson argubaly did more for civil rights than Kennedy ever did. Us Irish and Americans have created and perpetuaded a myth of Camelot. Read "King-A biography" by David Lewis to understand this. So if I am so smart how do I explain all of these coincidences? Well first of all I am smart enough to not even try and probably too lazy to check up on the the statistical probability of all of this. If the occurence of events follow a normal distribution whilst we would expect for there to be no coincidences between the vast amount of occurences there still would be a number of events between which there would be coincidences. And given the year ending in zero I guess the probability is 1 in 10, hell most people bet on the lottery with chances that are 7 magnitudes worse than that so ....
One final thing, I do like your post Sheila, they always get me thinking even if I am too drunk to be totally lucid, hic!?!?!?
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