In a message dated 1/13/01 9:21:42 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< I am taking a stats class right now (I am a doctoral student) and the
first
day the professor expounded at length on the importance of a theory being
falsifiable. If a theory is not falsifiable, then it is not really worth
taking the effort to consider, since nothing can ever come of it.>>
It seems to me that there is little more distant from politics than
statistics.
As a professional journalist for more than 20 years, I can tell you that in
politics more than any other field, information is only as good as its
source. In politics, there are very few things that can be called a "fact,"
and even those few facts can be put in a false context to make them, like
statistics, to appear to mean exactly the opposite of what they really are.
<<If people are not ever willing to consider any information or evidence
valid if it contradicts their beliefs/opinions, there really isn't any
point having a conversation, is there? To throw out anything that comes
from a conservative mouthpiece, without even considering it as a
possibility. To scorn anything that comes from a liberal listmember or a
left-leaning newspaper. Both of these behaviors are rather ridiculous, if
you really get down to it, and I have engaged in that type of behavior
myself... and I have seen it on this list *constantly*, more than anywhere
else I have ever been (in life or on the 'net). Skepticism is a healthy
response - and I'm not sure how to bridge the chasm between skepticism and
flexible thinking, but somehow I feel like some of the back and forth... I
don't know. >>
There is nothing healthier than skepticism as an initial response to anything
that challenges your belief system. The problem is not skepticism, but
outright dismissal.
Paul I
