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Originally posted by Django
I don't see how common sense or intuition can help you discern the facts from the lies.
I don't see how common sense or intuition can help you discern the facts from the lies.
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Originally posted by Yoda
...unless the common sense is your own, and the issue is unemployment, right?
...unless the common sense is your own, and the issue is unemployment, right?
Guys! guys!
You're breakin' my heart! One of the things I can't believe is YOUGUYS!
I don't want to be humorless here, but . . . how can you let EVERY discussion deteriorate into a fistfight! Life is too short!
To get back on-topic -- I think there are certain types of information we can trust (or at least trust, as correct to the present state of our knowledge). The 93 million miles, give or take an inch or two, is the best we can do -- and it's an average figure of course. But, like most scientific fact, it's generally verifiable. And verified.
But when you have tobacco companies telling you that cigarettes are good for your throat . . . we must be aware that they have a financial stake in our believing the truth of that statement. And when we have statistics quoted in political speeches by speakers who have a political axe to grind, we are right to be cautious.
Nevertheless, there is a huge gray area in which we DON'T KNOW whether the writer has an interest in influencing us -- or at least some part of his/her audience. And that is where we are vulnerable. So at that point we need to check to see who the writer is, where the material is sourced, what backup information is available . . . and do a whole host of little cross-checks. And still sometimes we are fooled. The US Census is generally reliable, and yet about seven years ago, somebody dropped a decimal point and their figures were WAY off and they had to eat crow and retract them about six months after they were published.
Mistakes happen. Clever people with hidden interests try to mislead us. And -- very important -- we smetimes misinterpret what we read and hear. The whole world is star-studded with errors.
And yet, MOST PEOPLE DO TRY TO TELL THE TRUTH. And although we need to be skeptical, we also need to be trusting.
All of which takes me back to the fact that we owe it to ourselves to stay alert. To look at the facts, to the degree that we can find them. To keep our eyes and our minds open. And not not to get too angry too quickly when we ARE fooled, either by accident or on purpose. Life consists of picking up yesterday's broken pieces and fitting them into whatever is happening today.
So grin and live with it, chums.
And make peace with each other forpetesake!
All my love to you all,
Jozie
You're breakin' my heart! One of the things I can't believe is YOUGUYS!
I don't want to be humorless here, but . . . how can you let EVERY discussion deteriorate into a fistfight! Life is too short!
To get back on-topic -- I think there are certain types of information we can trust (or at least trust, as correct to the present state of our knowledge). The 93 million miles, give or take an inch or two, is the best we can do -- and it's an average figure of course. But, like most scientific fact, it's generally verifiable. And verified.
But when you have tobacco companies telling you that cigarettes are good for your throat . . . we must be aware that they have a financial stake in our believing the truth of that statement. And when we have statistics quoted in political speeches by speakers who have a political axe to grind, we are right to be cautious.
Nevertheless, there is a huge gray area in which we DON'T KNOW whether the writer has an interest in influencing us -- or at least some part of his/her audience. And that is where we are vulnerable. So at that point we need to check to see who the writer is, where the material is sourced, what backup information is available . . . and do a whole host of little cross-checks. And still sometimes we are fooled. The US Census is generally reliable, and yet about seven years ago, somebody dropped a decimal point and their figures were WAY off and they had to eat crow and retract them about six months after they were published.
Mistakes happen. Clever people with hidden interests try to mislead us. And -- very important -- we smetimes misinterpret what we read and hear. The whole world is star-studded with errors.
And yet, MOST PEOPLE DO TRY TO TELL THE TRUTH. And although we need to be skeptical, we also need to be trusting.
All of which takes me back to the fact that we owe it to ourselves to stay alert. To look at the facts, to the degree that we can find them. To keep our eyes and our minds open. And not not to get too angry too quickly when we ARE fooled, either by accident or on purpose. Life consists of picking up yesterday's broken pieces and fitting them into whatever is happening today.
So grin and live with it, chums.
And make peace with each other forpetesake!
All my love to you all,
Jozie
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