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Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
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Do facts and data carry any weight at all?
#2902575 - 07/18/04 01:11 PM (19 years, 8 months ago) |
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Whether posting here or on PAL, the same mind-numbing responses appear time after time. Someone makes a case for some point of view or action (whether for War on Iraq or crop circles or astrology) and their underlying premise or specific case is shown to be erroneous, the poster quickly shifts to another unrelated case or point or states flatly that "normal" proof doesn't apply (after first attempting to show proof).
Where is the thinking mind behind these belief systems? Is stubborn tenacity more beneficial than rationality? Are facts mere chaffe to get in the way of a rigidly adopted view? Is there some social or survival mechanism at work here that I am unaware of, or just plain bone-headedness?
-------------------- The proof is in the pudding.
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redgreenvines
irregular verb
Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 38,063
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Re: Do facts and data carry any weight at all? [Re: Swami]
#2902634 - 07/18/04 01:28 PM (19 years, 8 months ago) |
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4/5ths of america says:
"do not confuse me with the facts"
but here, you may not be dealing with the same kinds of issues, some facts being offered are not directly related to the questions or the questioner. sometimes the comment could be:
"do not confuse me with the unrelated facts"
still it is nice you have some facts, many have less.
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Phred
Fred's son
Registered: 10/18/00
Posts: 12,949
Loc: Dominican Republic
Last seen: 9 years, 2 months
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Re: Do facts and data carry any weight at all? [Re: Swami]
#2903164 - 07/18/04 05:49 PM (19 years, 8 months ago) |
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You mean like the posts in PA&L about the supposed increase in military suicide rates which facts and data showed to be bogus?
You mean like the post in PA&L about the "1000th" US soldier killed in Iraq which facts and data showed to be bogus?
Were the facts mere chaff which got in the way in the way of a rigidly adopted view?
pinky
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DoctorJ
Registered: 06/30/03
Posts: 8,846
Loc: space
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
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Re: Do facts and data carry any weight at all? [Re: Phred]
#2903186 - 07/18/04 05:53 PM (19 years, 8 months ago) |
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Huehuecoyotl
Fading Slowly
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 10,689
Loc: On the Border
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Re: Do facts and data carry any weight at all? [Re: Swami]
#2903336 - 07/18/04 06:26 PM (19 years, 8 months ago) |
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Facts and data carry all the weight if they are validly represented.
Edited by Huehuecoyotl (07/18/04 07:39 PM)
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Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
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Re: Do facts and data carry any weight at all? [Re: Phred]
#2903482 - 07/18/04 07:28 PM (19 years, 8 months ago) |
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This whole thread was to draw you out of P&L for a while to get a fresh breath of air. Shark hunting as it were...
You mean like the post in PA&L about the "1000th" US soldier killed in Iraq which facts and data showed to be bogus? It was the 1000th Coalition Soldier killed and 882nd US soldier killed. I made a reporting error.
Were the facts mere chaff which got in the way in the way of a rigidly adopted view? What viewpoint did this admitted (and very minor) error bolster?
-------------------- The proof is in the pudding.
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Phred
Fred's son
Registered: 10/18/00
Posts: 12,949
Loc: Dominican Republic
Last seen: 9 years, 2 months
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Re: Do facts and data carry any weight at all? [Re: Swami]
#2903705 - 07/18/04 09:07 PM (19 years, 8 months ago) |
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And the military suicide thread? I seem to recall some pretty shady tactics employed in trying to hang on to a premise completely blown out of the water by facts and data.
Some might categorize this as boneheadedness.
pinky
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ZenGecko
enthusiast
Registered: 11/02/03
Posts: 285
Last seen: 1 year, 22 days
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Re: Do facts and data carry any weight at all? [Re: Swami]
#2904618 - 07/19/04 06:15 AM (19 years, 8 months ago) |
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i had a nice long well thought out reply to this post...and i scrapped it because it was pointless. We will likely always be fighting about this because facts arent facts to some. We all have different interpretations of information, and varying opinions on the validity of the various sources of that information, and this will likely always be the way it is. Ofcourse some of you may disagree...which just proves my point So in the end whatever weight they may carry will be a subjective weight, even the practical implications/application of the "facts" is subject to our own personal subjective view of reality. I'd like to say we should all be pragmatic...but i doubt we could all agree on what that is, and what is the practical nature of whatever we are trying to be pragmatic about.
Sincerely, That which is, and has no choice but to be.
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