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One heuristic that can be used in a situation like this (Greenwald vs Wired) is to measure the amount of psychological trickery leaking from each side's stateme
by grandalf 16y ago
One heuristic that can be used in a situation like this (Greenwald vs Wired) is to measure the amount of psychological trickery leaking from each side's statement.
One classic trick is to get righteously indignant. People act that way to persuade others (emotionally, not logically) that they are right. It's a classic trick of psychological manipulation.
The Wired guys have level 10 indignation, while Glenn has about a level 1.
- gnosis 16y agoThat's an interesting approach. An alternative one is to actually look in to the substance of their respective arguments, analyze the evidence they offer, and judge them by that.
- grandalf 16y agoTrue, the heuristic I mentioned should only be used as part of a more complete analysis.
- nir 16y agoWhat do you suppose Greenwald's "indignation level" would be if Wired have called him a "journalistic disgrace"?
- gnosis 16y agoThey pretty much did. Not in so many words, but that was much of the point of their rebuttal. They charged that Greenwald didn't do basic fact checking, got the facts wrong, didn't disclose his own conflicts of interest, didn't even understand basic journalistic ethics, etc.. Not to mention their snide, condescending attitude towards him throughout their whole rebuttal.