Some people know “how to say it”…Derek Grass, a frequent Facebook PolitiFact commenter, is one. Maybe because it’s “manno a manno”, I don’t know. But Derek makes the point that Bryan is a “DIP”—demander [of] impossible perfection—when it comes to judging PolitiFact’s (PF) fact-check articles.
This is a portion of their debate over August 12-14, 2010. I have corrected some of Derek’s capitalization/spelling errors as it appears he was communicating from a cell/blackberry. I have put the most significant comments in bold type.
Bryan complained "PolitiFact appended no note to this story after inserting the word "billion" after "$787": Click here for fact-check
The fact was, in the above link, PolitiFact had a fact-check relating to the $787 Billion stimulus package in 2009. In one sentence, they only put $787, and forgot the B for “billions” after it. Although it was pretty clear that this was a typo and anyone reading knew what they meant, Bryan thought it was part of a serious pattern of error at PolitiFact. I believe one or two people noted it in the Facebook comment thread, but most people did not notice it, because they knew it was a simple, minor error.
Derek responded as I probably would: “I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the average PF reader understood that the stimi was 787 billion not $787.00".
Translation: Bryan was making much to do about nothing.
Bryan answered: “Watch for PolitiFact to grant others the benefit of the doubt on that basis. Regardless, it isn't a typo and it wasn't corrected very soon after publishing. Good excuse, though.”
I call this a “baffling bullshit” statement because it obviously does not qualify as dazzling brilliance. That PF would be like you and me, recognize it as a typo? How soon is soon enough and WHY? Does it change the meaning of everything, given that most people by sheer common sense know they mean billions? Bryan often makes these sophist, generalizing statements that AREN’T really answers, just something to say that sounds like “something”—you just don’t know what. They could go in any direction, which I guess is Bryan’s agenda…let it go in a direction where he can control the dialogue.
So Derek said just that in response: “It’s not an excuse it’s common sense, and suggesting PF won't grant the same benefit of doubt in the boundless endless future is a weak. You honestly think PF actually left the billion off to trick people into thinking the stimulus was only $787.00 ?”
Bryan, in his relentless quest to prove his point and have the last word, answered: **Regardless of the motivation, the item should be corrected conspicuously and *transparently*. No excuses like "Oh, well we didn't mean to mislead anybody so we'll just sneak in a little correction so nobody will be the wiser, heh heh."**
Now, think about what he just said….that strikes me as, using two of his favorite words, uncharitable and SNARKY. If almost no one noticed in the first place, no one’s going to notice when PF “sneaks it in” because it’s not changing the meaning for any one. He’s also falsely implying that PF also believes this is misleading and they are being “sneaky.”
Derek didn’t give up, though. “There was no motivation and I cannot see how not putting billions after $787 when talking about the stimulus would lead somebody to believe it was only $787.00,” he responded.
This is where Bryan finally stopped, because he probably knew he was splitting hairs, and really was not convincing in his argument that this was “part of a pattern that add[s] up to bias” at PolitiFact.
There was a lot of good substance in the debate between Bryan and Derek, and I hope to share more of it. It provides good insight into the basis of Bryan’s opinion about PolitiFact’s supposed bias.
But my favorite quote of Bryan’s in this thread was about something he has commented to me previously on: (to Derek) “But I trust that you're smart enough to weigh the issues with perseverance and an open mind. Open up the mind just a bit more, though.” This coming from someone who is SO proud of his closed mind he includes a quote on the head page of his site from one “musicmommy”: “You all are wasting your energy trying to convince Bryan of anything. He has a rigid mindset…” followed by my quote “I can see why musicmommy says I would be wasting my energy trying to convince you of anything.”
I’ll open my mind, Bryan, when you open yours.
No comments:
Post a Comment