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You've just described the Gell-Man Amnesia effect: "Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect works as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some
by ClintEhrlich 9y ago
You've just described the Gell-Man Amnesia effect:
"Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect works as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward-reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story-and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read with renewed interest as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about far-off Palestine than it was about the story you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know." - Michael Crichton, Why Speculate (26 April 2002)
- baking 9y agoWhat's particularly interesting is that Scott specifically says that "the Washington Post has been a leader in investigative journalism exposing Trump’s malfeasance" but anyone who has been following Seth Abramson knows that the Washington Post and the New York Times are still a huge part of the problem in keeping up with the whole Russia investigation.
- shaki-dora 9y agoThe Washington Post's most prominent claim to fame in that regard is David Fahrenthold's reporting on the Trump Foundation's various ethical (and probably legal) problems, including self-dealing (spending donated money for functions at his Golf Courses), misappropriations (buying a self-portrait from foundation money) and outright fraud (not paying out promised donations, lying about the amounts Trump himself contributes to the foundation) etc. His articles are at https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/david-a-fahrenthold/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/david-a-fahrenthold/ Regarding Seth Abramson, it's important to note that there is ample criticism of his rather sloppy methods. A nice summary of him and similar "independent journalists" is at https://thinkprogress.org/blue-detectives-collapse-trump-russia-a42a94537bdf/ https://thinkprogress.org/blue-detectives-collapse-trump-rus.... If ThinkProgress thinks some criticism of Trump may be too close to conspiracy theories than comfortable, it would seem to be rather suspect.
- bcoates 9y agoWait, Seth Abramson's problem with the Washingon Post is that they're not willing enough to believe batshit Russians-under-our-beds stories?
- curuinor 9y agoI think the summary of Seth Abramson's contributions is: 1. He's insane 2. 2016-2018 has been insane 3. They've often been materially insane in the same way. But sometimes not. Russians are, in fact, under our collective beds, getting at our voting.