"The truth is out there - But where?"

CONTENTS

Introduction
Sellers' Market
Will to Believe
Rules of Thumb

"The truth is out there "
Use & misuse of words
False information signals more false information
Technical whiz-bang
Understand the Context
Lies, More Lies, Damn Lies and Newspapers
Beware of Generalizations
Theology and scripture
Misleading Statistics
Smoke in your eyes: a picture can be worth a thousand lies
What is Missing?
Myth versus fact versus narrative
The past was not like the present; the future will be different

Fallacy Recognition in the Middle East

Fallacies and Arguments
Cause and Effect
Slippery Slope
Gambler's Fallacy
Ad Hominem
Authority
Beliefs
Appeal to Novelty
Appeal to Emotion
Appeal to Tradition
False Dilemma or Black and White Thinking
Special Pleading
The Spotlight Fallacy
Who is to Say?

Fallacy Handbook

"The truth is out there - But where?"

Always be skeptical about the claim that "Main Stream Media" are deliberately suppressing news stories. Media are usually hungry for news. If a story is not carried by a major media outlet, be suspicious! If only Al-Jazeera circulated a story that the USA used nuclear weapons in Iraq, and the story didn't appear in the New York Times or CNN or the BBC, it is not because these other outlets are run by "Zionists" or "Neocons."

Conspiracy theorists find a big market among both ignorant people and those who should know better. Jeff Rense's Rense.com Web site abounds in such theories, and there are many others. The trilateral conspiracy, the Freemason conspiracy, the Elders of Zion and many others enjoy a continuing vogue because they appeal to basic fears and to the Will to Believe. They flatter their followers by telling them they are privy to special information, not released to anyone else. Have alien beings really landed on the planet Earth? Were the communists really putting tasteless poisons on our water? Were the 9-11 attacks really a plot by the CIA and the Mossad? Is the US secretly masking depleted uranium with enriched uranium? Did Shimon Peres secretly order the murder of Yitzhak Rabin? People who hate the Mossad or Shimon Peres or Jews or communists will want to believe some of these rumors, because they fit with their demonized conceptions of reality.

Be skeptical about claims that peer-reviewed scientific journals suppress the truth. It has happened, but it is far more likely that the person making the claim for controlled fusion, or depleted uranium scare stories, or secret poisons in the drinking water that were put there by communists, capitalists or Zionists, is a quack. Peer reviewed science produced penicillin, cardiac stents, vaccines, x-rays and atom bombs. Charlatan science produced Orgone boxes, snake oil salesmen and fake cures for cancer like Laetrile. Which are you going to believe?

Previous: Rules of Thumb Next: Use & misuse of words

Zen and Understanding Middle East News and Issues

"The truth is out there - But where?"

"The truth is out there - But where?"

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