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Is there something in this document that you can point to as being inaccurate or obviously exaggerated?
by BoringCode 10y ago
Is there something in this document that you can point to as being inaccurate or obviously exaggerated?
- tptacek 10y agoI don't know. That's not a hurdle my argument needs to clear.
- BoringCode 10y agoI disagree. If you're going to say "But the authors of this document had a job to do: portray administration appointees in the worst light possible." then you need to at least show some examples of that. You're not making an argument. You're trying to pass an opinion as a fact. You need to back up statements like that.
- tptacek 10y agoI simply disagree with you.
- ztratar 10y agoIf you're disagreeing that you "need" to provide proof as a duty, then you're correct. If you're disagreeing that you "need" to provide proof because your claim is substantiated intrinsically, then you're being pompous and lazy.
- Godel_unicode 10y agoThis. HN famous != Claims need not be backed by evidence.
- mbreese 10y agoThe document is a "Majority Staff Report". And the only listed authors are from one party. By definition it is a partisan document. That doesn't mean that it's 100% false (or 100% true), but that's the context for the report. Regardless of whether or not anything was exaggerated, it's still a partisan, political document. The contents don't change that. This would still be the case if it was a "Minority Staff Report" too...
- dredmorbius 10y agoThe past 8, if not the past 24 years, of highly partisan, political, and acrimonious relations between political parties in the U.S. is sufficient context for the observation that this is a single party's view of the incident to be salient. That of the two major parties, the report is authored by the one with a far more adversarial relationship wwith the truth is also worth mentioning. Not that the report mightn't contain elements of reality. But this is also likely to be as critical of the opposing part and politically beneficial to the authoring party as possible . The fact is that this isn't a bipartisan and balanced (possibly, yes, to the point of compromise) report. That is not an opinion. Tptacek hasn't argued the contents are specifically flawed. But the impartiality of the authors is certainly suspect on well-founded grounds.
- marmot777 10y agoYes, agreed, a partisan document out of a Congressional Committee is inherently biased. I don't think anyone would dispute this as a general principle so there's no reason to think this a special case.