It damages credibility if you say categorically that no American company could be targeted by SOPA, when in fact they could be. It erodes the sense that viewers

It damages credibility if you say categorically that no American company could be targeted by SOPA, when in fact they could be. It erodes the sense that viewers should believe the rest of what you say. Richard Cotton also mentioned that due process will be respected, and only sites that are wholesale engaged in piracy will be affected. When people are loose with language, you wonder what the precise situation actually is, and it muddies the debate. Few people have a subtle understanding of what SOPA actually entails (I still don't understand all the details), and this is because the proponents say 'We're targeting thieves' and the opponents say 'This will break the internet', and sometimes a reader gets the sense that no-one is communicating the precise, un-dramatized, facts. If the reader doesn't feel they have these facts, it's difficult to draw your own conclusions.