Identify the Fallacy…

These are not the variables you’re looking for:

Those who argue that violent justice cannot solve this problem ignore several thousand years of history that suggests otherwise. It is absolutely a fact that Somali piracy can be eliminated on land, but history also shows that the application of the common law practice of execution also reduces the activity of piracy significantly. In the 19th century the Royal Navy proved all prior history correct by applying common law, the result was that piracy globally was virtually eliminated. Westerners should question and give serious consideration to whether we are evolving towards progress, or away from it. History is a solid guide for the future, but does this policy learn from history or ignore history?

So let me get this straight… a particular policy was pursued in response to a particular problem for 2200+ years. At the end of that 2200 year period, the problem underwent an abrupt and substantial decline. Accordingly, the 2200 year old policy (which, let me remind you, was followed for 2200 years; 2200!) should be judged a complete and unmediated success.

Yep.

Look, there’s a fair critique to be made about the legal complications associated with the fight against piracy. It’s true enough that pirates are taking advantage of the legal netherspace that they inhabit, and it’s also true that the navies of the world have yet to arrive at a fully satisfactory solution. And *maybe* just executing all the pirates as soon as they’re captured would work; maybe, on the other hand, the pirates would just get a lot more violent. I really don’t know. I do know, however, that sloppy theorizing of the sort we see above isn’t terribly helpful.