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Where facts are debatable, the responsibility to accuracy would include a description of their basis and the limits of that basis. Where there's less room for
by wwweston 6y ago
Where facts are debatable, the responsibility to accuracy would include a description of their basis and the limits of that basis.
Where there's less room for debate, responsibility includes an obligation to avoid "shape of the earth: views differ" approaches.
If individuals and institutions don't take up this kind of responsibility, then there's no such thing as discourse, only speech as indulgence.
And the value of popular opinion is directly related which one of those is used in constructing it. Individual and institutional responsibility, however, will remain orthogonal to that.
- ColanR 6y agoDiscourse is when individuals are willing to argue civilly with people who believe fundamentally different things, and are able to do so without concern for 'watching their words'. Whether they are engaging in an informed discussion or an uninformed one is between the people talking. For anyone else to insert themselves into the conversation, public or not, and claim to have The Real Facts is arrogant. For an institution to attempt to referee the conversations it is privy to, prevents actual truth from being discovered. To require institutions to referee in that way? Is another act of arrogance: placing oneself above 'the other people who have to be kept in line'. To leave those institutions at the mercy of popular opinion, to referee as the mob sees fit, is insanity. At least, that's the way I see it. Thank goodness we're still allowed to disagree on this.