The Art of Hair-splitting

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Robert Ringer

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I’ve been a head-scratcher all my life. Day in and day out I hear and read things that the public seems to accept as fact, but which don’t ring true to me. A recent incident that has me scratching my head yet again is the uproar over President Trump’s tweet following the latest London terrorist attack, to wit:

“At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’”

This was in response to London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s public statement: “Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days. There’s no reason to be alarmed.

To my amazement, everyone but me seems to be in agreement that Trump took Khan’s words out of context. What puzzles me is, what’s the difference between being alarmed by an increased police presence and being alarmed by an increase in terrorist attacks?

The increased police presence is a result of three terrorist attacks in the UK in the past ten weeks. So either way you say it, any halfway serious person who isn’t pushing an agenda gets the point.

To me, calling Trump’s words “out of context” is splitting hairs in order to put out yet another anti-Trump message. Are we to believe that Khan was saying you needn’t be alarmed by the increased police presence, but you should be alarmed by the terrorist attacks? I hardly think so.

The thought that millions of people apparently don’t understand that the increased police presence and the terrorist attacks are inextricably connected is kind of scary, because it raises the broader question, what else don’t they get? But, of course, we already know the answer to that, so in today’s Orwellian world, nothing should surprise us.

Robert Ringer

Robert Ringer is an American icon whose unique insights into life have helped millions of readers worldwide. He is also the author of two New York Times #1 bestselling books, both of which have been listed by The New York Times among the 15 best-selling motivational books of all time.