What you're talking about is just a heuristic in the absence of evidence. A liar can tell the truth, and we cannot claim they are wrong simply by pointing to their background.
Is there any actual proof that NPR or the people who are quoted are incorrect?
Can we trust a mainstream media outlet deeply invested in the pro-pediatric cosmetic surgery agenda to report accurately on what their opposition thinks or believes? Track record says no.
Track records are, as I said, heuristics. You can say you're suspicious, but we ultimately can only say that we have no idea if they're accurate or not.
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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
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originally identified by
philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
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Notes -
What you're talking about is just a heuristic in the absence of evidence. A liar can tell the truth, and we cannot claim they are wrong simply by pointing to their background.
Is there any actual proof that NPR or the people who are quoted are incorrect?
Can we trust a mainstream media outlet deeply invested in the pro-pediatric cosmetic surgery agenda to report accurately on what their opposition thinks or believes? Track record says no.
Track records are, as I said, heuristics. You can say you're suspicious, but we ultimately can only say that we have no idea if they're accurate or not.
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