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Who cares if Iceland is a member or almost a member. That's not the point of the article. Can we discuss the main point please, that is a country's population r

Who cares if Iceland is a member or almost a member. That's not the point of the article. Can we discuss the main point please, that is a country's population refusing to bail out the criminals of the financial sector.

arethuza 15y ago
I find that if an article has a glaring factual error in its first paragraph it does rather undermine its overall credibility.
- perfunctory 15y ago
  Yes, in a way. But I don't think in this case it matters that much. It's like saying: hey, look at that politician, he smoked weed in college, now this is supposed to undermine his overall credibility. Who cares.
  - arethuza 15y ago
    No it isn't. The lack of fact-based critical thinking is precisely what causes things like the 2008 financial crisis. If an argument is riddled with factual errors I cannot give any faith in its conclusion even if I am generally supportive of them.
  - tripa 15y ago
    I don't think it is. Your politician's college was a long time ago, he as a man would have had time to change. The article's mistakes are right now; there's little reason to believe the sloppy fact checking improves right between the first paragraph and the second.
psykotic 15y ago
You go right ahead, but I'm not going to discuss the article's main point until I've had time to read up on the relevant background from other sources. Facts are not ornamental adjoints to an analysis but the very stuff out of which it is made. Besides, there were other inaccuracies. The article claimed that the British and Dutch governments threatened to freeze assets of Icelanders when it seems the only target was assets directly owned by Landsbanki. That's still extraordinary, especially seeing it was prosecuted under the guise of anti-terror, but it is very different in fact and substance from what was claimed.
gaius 15y ago
By "criminals of the financial sector" you mean UK individuals, charities and local councils who were foolish enough to believe that Vikings honour their word. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4910126.ece http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article491012...

arethuza 15y ago

I find that if an article has a glaring factual error in its first paragraph it does rather undermine its overall credibility.

perfunctory 15y ago
Yes, in a way. But I don't think in this case it matters that much. It's like saying: hey, look at that politician, he smoked weed in college, now this is supposed to undermine his overall credibility. Who cares.
- arethuza 15y ago
  No it isn't. The lack of fact-based critical thinking is precisely what causes things like the 2008 financial crisis. If an argument is riddled with factual errors I cannot give any faith in its conclusion even if I am generally supportive of them.
- tripa 15y ago
  I don't think it is. Your politician's college was a long time ago, he as a man would have had time to change. The article's mistakes are right now; there's little reason to believe the sloppy fact checking improves right between the first paragraph and the second.

psykotic 15y ago

You go right ahead, but I'm not going to discuss the article's main point until I've had time to read up on the relevant background from other sources. Facts are not ornamental adjoints to an analysis but the very stuff out of which it is made. Besides, there were other inaccuracies. The article claimed that the British and Dutch governments threatened to freeze assets of Icelanders when it seems the only target was assets directly owned by Landsbanki. That's still extraordinary, especially seeing it was prosecuted under the guise of anti-terror, but it is very different in fact and substance from what was claimed.

gaius 15y ago

By "criminals of the financial sector" you mean UK individuals, charities and local councils who were foolish enough to believe that Vikings honour their word. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4910126.ece http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article491012...