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Quillette is cynically using the exact same "social-panic" tactics they're criticizing to create exactly your conclusion. The Q article has exactly two complai
by bloaf 4y ago
Quillette is cynically using the exact same "social-panic" tactics they're criticizing to create exactly your conclusion.
The Q article has exactly two complaints about the facts reported by the media:
1. The media claimed bodies were unearthed, when in fact only scans were taken.
2. The media claimed there were mass graves, when in fact scans only detected masses of individual graves.
However, in "social-panic" style, conservatives are taking these two quibbles over terminology and turning them into an Alex Jones-esque conspiracy to deny the graves existence altogether.
Note also the subtle racism in the article, where they compare a hypothetical instant-response to the murder of white children to the "very odd" response of the first nation people. The implication being that first nations people are incompetent, uncaring, or untrustworthy by not immediately doing a certain kind of investigation.
- Cupertino95014 4y ago> The media claimed bodies were unearthed This is not a "quibble." It's a major falsehood.
- bloaf 4y agoUnearth can be used in a literal sense, which in this case is false. It can also be used in a figurative sense, which in this case is almost certainly true.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- UIUC_06 4y agoDon't get too dizzy from all that spinning around. So do you really believe everyone in Canada read that and thought "Oh, they're using the word in a figurative sense! Never mind." If something is, by definition, in the earth and a story says it was "unearthed" it's sorta reasonable to believe it was dug up.
- munk-a 4y agoI actually think "unearthed" as in "discovered" is the more reasonable read - along with someone thinking they're clever in making a pun. When history is "unearthed" with radar, we generally assume some folks took a big expensive machine aimed it at the ground and walked away with a strong indication that something exists down there - when it comes to delicate items (like, for instance a decaying longboat that exists in the earth merely as concentrations of plant fiber in a suspicious shape) and especially when it comes to human remains (that people are often very reluctant to move due for cultural reasons) that's especially the case.
- UIUC_06 4y agoYeah, I don't think most editors would think a pun about First Nation graves would be a clever idea.
- prvc 4y agoWhat kind of journalist uses "unearthed" metaphorically in a story about purported graves?
- smeej 4y agoThe implication seemed (to me at least) to be that first nations people were not being afforded the same respect as their white counterparts would have been.
- AinderS 4y ago> scans only detected masses of individual graves. Possible graves. How many were unambiguously confirmed? And how many would we expect from normal high-at-the-time child mortality?
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoSo the graves need to be confirmed, because you are skeptical they exist? But if/when they are confirmed, then its not a big deal because it's just some of the graves that you know exist? Do you see the contradiction here?
- AinderS 4y agoThe contradiction in what? Wanting proof that the death rate was higher (and how much higher) than in any other school?
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoDo the graves only exist if the rate was higher? You seem determined to downplay these graves, but the kettle logic of "these graves don't exist and also they do exist and we all know about them but they aren't a problem" undermines your argument.
- AinderS 4y agoAre you seriously going to pretend that these suspected graves aren't being used to allege that the treatment of natives in Canada was worse than previously believed?
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoYes? I think people are just generally a little underinforned about this kind of stuff, so the actual details can be shocking. And some people still overreact and try to cover it up and whitewash it. The US Civil war being about slavery still seems to be considered an eleborate hoax to some people. And they do the same "yes well the centuries of slavery, death, rape and murder is all true, and well established historical fact obviously, but <minor historical innaccuracy>! So basically they're overreacting and undermining our great nation by talking about stuff that happened." and it's cringe in both cases.