Wednesday, February 4, 2009

McDonald's Theory of War

In a 1996 New York Times article economist Thomas L. Friedman first stated the following popular fact: "no two countries that both have a McDonald's have ever fought a war against each other."

This is not true. The following pairs of countries both have a McDonald's and have gone to war, thus breaking this theory: Georgia and Russia and Israel and Lebanon. There might be more.

2 comments:

  1. Okay, but it was true when he wrote it in 1996, as those conflicts occurred after 2000.

    For example, if I said, "I have never kicked you in the face," and I kicked you in the face tomorrow, that does not make my statement retroactively untrue.

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  2. It was true when you said it but it is still retroactively untrue. Truth transcends space-time.

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