[Neurons] 2021 Neurons #82 THE PROBLEM WITH FACTS

Sun Dec 26 23:26:58 EST 2021

From: L. Michael Hall

2021 Neurons #82

December 27, 2021

Facts #10

THE PROBLEM WITH FACTS

In this series on Critical Thinking about Facts, we have seen that there are
lots of problems with facts.  While facts are essential to our well-being
and sanity, they are not so easy to access or determine.  What's clear is
that merely calling something a "fact," does not make it so.  And there's a
great many ways to distort a "fact" so that it is not factual.

The next time someone quotes a "fact" to you to make a point be sure to ask
these questions:  What is the context and background of the fact?  What are
you not saying about the fact?  

Recent Biden went on the campaign trail declaring that the new three
trillion bill "will cost nothing, zero."  "It's all paid for already."  He
repeated that so-called "fact" over and over.  But it seemed fishy to me
from the beginning.  If it costs nothing and if it's already paid for, why
all the opposition?  Why did Joe Manchin worry about the cost and did the
Congressional Budget Office estimate it would cost three trillion?  How
could the government aim to spend 3 to 5 trillion dollars when it has a
deficient of 21 trillion and it "cost nothing."  

Every news channel these days lead out on their evening news about Covid.
They state "with the new variant omicron, cases of covid are rising."  But
what are they not saying?  Without more context, a fact like that is not
actually a fact, but mere propaganda.  So let's get some more facts.  Here's
one from the CDC:

"The average person dying of covid in the USA is 79 years of age with four
co-morbidities."  Ah, now that's a very different picture!  Especially when
you add another fact. "The average age of death for males in the US is 79."

Oh my God!  Those who are dying of covid are mostly the people who would be
dying anyway!  This is what they are not telling us.  So what's the deal
with the Fear Pandemic that the media, and most governments, are
perpetuating?  Facts need context.  So here, from the CDC, are the numbers
of deaths per year in the US from 2014 through 2020 to give even more
context to the subject.

                                           2014: 2,626,418
2015: 2,712,630 : Increase - 86,212 - 3.28%

                                           2016 : 2,744,248 : Increase -
31,618 - 1.16%       2017 : 2,813,503 : Increase -  69,255 - 2.52%

                                           2018 : 2,839,206 : Increase  -
25,703 -  1%           2019: 2,855,000 : Increase  - 15,794- 0.55%

2020: 2,913,144 : Increase - 58,144 - 2%

>From the beginning, it is a fact that people die.  And when you have an
aging population and the average age of death is 79, there's going to be a
lot of deaths every day.  CNN is notorious for putting up the number of
deaths by Covid to create panic.  But what if they put up the number that
normally die every day?  Before the pandemic in 2019, that number in the US
gives a base number of 7,821.92 daily.  Whoooo!  Nearly 8,000!  Not new
cases, but deaths.

So, we have the problem of out-of-context "facts."  That turns them into
false facts because we don't have the proper context for understanding them.
Then there is the problem of leaving out critical conditions, factors, and
variables that help contextual the fact.  This speaks to what is left out
and what they are not telling us. 

Additionally, we have the problem of language.  Here the media really messes
up because they have lost the distinction between empirical descriptions and
evaluations.  Today they throw around evaluative words as modifiers without
any concern for accuracy.  A big one for many the mainstream channels is
still to call the January 6 riot an "insurrection."  Yet on August 20, 2021
the FBI released documents declaring that there was no "insurrection" (see
below).  

What strikes me is the fact that if it were an insurrection, how come there
were no guns among the rioters?  How do you overthrow a government and its
army without any guns?  Further, why is it that all of the people who were
hurt that day were Trump supporters?  And why was the one person (a woman)
who was killed (shot by the Capitol Police) also a Trump supporter?  There's
no question that it was a stupid and terrible riot among many who were
simply not thinking or using their heads and others who disturbed enough to
want a riot and destruction.  But an insurrection?  Only with some pieces of
lumber and a plastic shield?

When you use an emotionally-laden word like "insurrection," you are implying
a lot more than just a riot.  Semantically loaded words reveal a person's
biases.  We are now no longer dealing with facts, but opinions.  And that's
fine, but call an opinion "an opinion" and don't distort it into a false
fact.

Source:

WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The FBI has found scant evidence that the
Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to
overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and
former law enforcement officials.

"Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," said a former
senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. "Then
you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely
organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and
all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages."

FBI investigators did find that cells of protesters, including followers of
the far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys groups, had aimed to break into
the Capitol. But they found no evidence that the groups had serious plans
about what to do if they made it inside, the sources said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capit
ol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20Aug%20
20%20%28Reuters%29%20-%20The%20FBI%20has,to%20four%20current%20and%20former%
20law%20enforcement%20officials 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com 

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