Thanks for playing a devil’s advocate, really helpful to have someone do that!
For point A:
I agree on the need to represent a credible threat. However, being seen as irrational and manipulated easily by terrorist attacks is not really a credible threat. Especially if doing so plays into an enemy’s hands.
Clearly, these young Muslims are then going out into the broader world, including into Paris, and there’s not really a good way to stop them.
For point B:
The commenters do not represent the actual readers. The readers of this newspaper live in a liberal-leaning city, Cleveland. If you look through the actual comments, you will see it’s the same people making the same criticism again and again. It’s a group of activists who go on newspaper sites around the country and try to persuade readers to share their opinions. I’ve been getting positive emails from actual readers for the last few days. Also, other places have been interested in republishing the op-ed, such as The Huffington Post, etc.
I’m not a typical EA in analyzing political issues, actually. I’m a historian, and have quite a bit of expertise in political analysis. This is the only reason I was able to get this publication into the paper, namely my credibility as an expert.
I’m still curious about your response to the question of QALYs and money.
Thanks for playing a devil’s advocate, really helpful to have someone do that!
For point A:
I agree on the need to represent a credible threat. However, being seen as irrational and manipulated easily by terrorist attacks is not really a credible threat. Especially if doing so plays into an enemy’s hands.
Clearly, these young Muslims are then going out into the broader world, including into Paris, and there’s not really a good way to stop them.
For point B:
The commenters do not represent the actual readers. The readers of this newspaper live in a liberal-leaning city, Cleveland. If you look through the actual comments, you will see it’s the same people making the same criticism again and again. It’s a group of activists who go on newspaper sites around the country and try to persuade readers to share their opinions. I’ve been getting positive emails from actual readers for the last few days. Also, other places have been interested in republishing the op-ed, such as The Huffington Post, etc.
I’m not a typical EA in analyzing political issues, actually. I’m a historian, and have quite a bit of expertise in political analysis. This is the only reason I was able to get this publication into the paper, namely my credibility as an expert.
I’m still curious about your response to the question of QALYs and money.