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The purpose of the bit you quoted is not meant to be a literal example, it's a thought experiment using a pirate stereotype/myth familiar to most readers. The h
by adjkant 6y ago
The purpose of the bit you quoted is not meant to be a literal example, it's a thought experiment using a pirate stereotype/myth familiar to most readers. The history of pirates and equitable labor is interesting of course, but its factual accuracy in the example is not relevant.
It's very odd to write off a full piece based on this choice, especially so for "accuracy reasons" than rhetorical device choices.
- nullc 6y agoHow many other statements in it were chosen for rhetorical flourish, because they appealed to readers biases, rather than being grounded on some rigorous researched basis? It's impossible to tell without far more work than the article justified. The history of pirate labour isn't particularly obscure. So either the article wasn't reviewed by someone with more than a passing interest in labour relations or it was and they just didn't care that they used probably one of the worst historical examples they could have used just because it made for good imagery.