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submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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[-] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It’s equally valid to say that a black woman has lost the election every time.

Edit: Vacuous truth

[-] caden@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Not really, since in most (all?) U.S. presidential elections to date there has not been a black woman on the ballot. I think there's an important semantic difference between losing and not winning. The equal but opposite statement to the OP would be that a black woman has never won the election, which is true.

[-] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Read the wiki article. If a black woman has never been on the ballot then every possible statement you make beginning with “for all black women who have ever been on the ballot…” is true.

[-] caden@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yes, because now you've added the critical qualifier "who have ever been on the ballot". Without that, it doesn't hold.

No black woman has ever won the election or lost the election, because the set of black women who have ever been on the ballot before is empty.

this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2024
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