tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820814198873126054.post583548052994608184..comments2023-10-20T05:51:51.625-04:00Comments on The THINK 3 INSTITUTE: Double standard? Freedom of rumor in free and unfree societiesSamuel Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934870299522899944noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820814198873126054.post-55186856717139171612012-04-16T22:09:07.347-04:002012-04-16T22:09:07.347-04:00I'm not advocating anything. Just pointing ou...I'm not advocating anything. Just pointing out a problem. As for "belief" or "faith" or whatever semantic tomfoolery you wish, it's the same thing . . . the acceptence of something as true or factual that cannot be proven to be true of factual. As for lie, I think we need not argue over <i>that</i> definition.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820814198873126054.post-89659637594957419702012-04-15T18:36:13.872-04:002012-04-15T18:36:13.872-04:00I'm not quite sure what you mean by "beli...I'm not quite sure what you mean by "belief," except to guess that you mean it as a sort of synonym for "faith." But aren't values a matter of belief? When you espouse a vision of a good society, it's obviously not something you can verify except by making it happen. That's a different issue from the tendency you describe of people jumping to prejudicial conclusions, but when you write about extirpating "belief" entirely I wonder what else might be going out with the bathwater.<br /><br />The more immeidate practical question is whether some authority should be authorized to treat rumors as lies. Americans clearly distrust any authority having the censorial power the Chinese have recently applied, but when does that distrust become distrust of the notion of truth itself?Samuel Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00934870299522899944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820814198873126054.post-56451696943805631272012-04-15T12:03:00.195-04:002012-04-15T12:03:00.195-04:00And again, the entire problem I have with this is:...And again, the entire problem I have with this is: lie. No human being should ever accept lies or those who spin them into their lives. No human being should support those who make a career of telling lies.<br /><br />No one who listens to and accepts lies as truth, without even an attempt at verification, are a main root of the problems this planet faces.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820814198873126054.post-12668188779451977372012-04-14T09:16:21.535-04:002012-04-14T09:16:21.535-04:00The real problem with rumours is belief. In the U...The real problem with rumours is belief. In the US today (perhaps the world), people accept what they want to believe as truth, whether it is true or not. So if a rumor is started about a politician, the opponents of that politician are likely to believe it because they want it to be true. It won't matter what evidence you provide to prove otherwise, they will still believe the rumour to be true.<br /><br />Part of why I have come to the conclusion that the entire idea of "belief" needs to be completely squashed and eliminated from human usage.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com