Get The Facts Permalink

Rant Added 77 days ago!!! Woo! 77!

When you formally protest something, get the facts first. Facts should be gathered from a primary source only.

Even if your underlying argument is correct, presenting that argument with even ONE erroneous "fact" immediately discredits you. You can't then turn around and say "Oh but... my main argument still holds!" - you may think you can, but you don't understand the human brain. There is so much information that we trawl through everyday that our minds have to be able to dismiss ideas and concepts based on small samples of failure. If we didn't do this then we would get bogged down learning everything about everything just in order to form an opinion. Another way of saying this might be "first impressions count."

For example, you might hate George W. Bush. I'm sure you can name some of his mistakes (or at least what you consider mistakes), but can you remember his successes? Did you take everything he said since those mistakes in an objective way - or did you stop believing him based on his already diminished credibility? You did the latter, didn't you? That's how our brains work - we get through life by identifying patterns so we don't get fooled again.

So the moral is, when you formally present an argument make sure you are whiter than white, cleaner than clean, with your facts double-checked and from a primary source - because it is all too easy for your opponent to dismiss your entire argument based on your first factual error. Protect your credibility using caution and research!

Rants and friendly discussions are not formal arguments or protests. Errors are almost encouraged here (preferably posed as questions) - they help us learn.

Colophon

Django, Python, 960.gs, Git, Vim, WebFaction

The Author

The author is a software engineer living in Australia. He sux at guitar, loves camping, doesn't like cake, does like coffee and is a lazy home brewer.

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