Ezra Levant Talk at the U of C

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by HOZ

1)
2) He is not being preposterous. You are. He is not saying that.

That's absolutely what he is saying. He's in the business of being preposterous. Sorry. but that is just the way it is. And he'd be the first to admit it!

The only we are debating is the degree of unethicalness.

As a citizen, I have far more influence on the development of the Fort McMurray oilsands. Hence where I stand.

[bigearl]

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[bigearl]

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[rubecube]

Originally Posted by bigearl

Perhaps replace impossible with undesirable. I'm not a law or philosophy student..

No, that doesn't really work because Levant isn't saying that the oil sands aren't harmful. He's saying they're the better of two evils. He even acknowledges that we need to find cleaner, renewable sources of energy and that the money made from oil sands should go towards this. There are many ways you can break down what Levant is saying into deductively valid arguments.

The simplest form would be this:

Modus ponens -

If we need oil, then Canadian oil is the best alternative.
We do need oil.
So Canadian oil is the best alternative.

The only issue with any of those premises is if you believe that OPEC oil is a better alternative.

[bigearl]

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[Leon]

Went to a Fraser Institute conference last semester here in Victoria and got to hear Ezra talk about this.

Seemed quite controversial and it certainly provoked a lot of poor counter-arguments from the audience.

Seemed reasonably sound to me - he certainly enjoys stirring the pot, however.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by noel

Went to a Fraser Institute conference last semester here in Victoria and got to hear Ezra talk about this.

Seemed quite controversial and it certainly provoked a lot of poor counter-arguments from the audience.

Seemed reasonably sound to me - he certainly enjoys stirring the pot, however.

Yeah, that's the conference I was at. That prof from Pearson was losing his mind. I laughed.