Richard L Epstein
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to use your judgment.
Up to this point we've considered whether to believe people who claim to be
knowledgeable. But sometimes we can rely on the quality and reputation of an
organization or reference work. For example, The New England Journal of
Medicine is regularly quoted in newspapers, and for good reason. The articles in it
are subjected to peer review: Experts in the subject are asked to evaluate whether the
research was done to scientific standards. That journal is notable for having high
scientific standards, and its official website is similarly reliable.
The National Geographic has less reliable standards, since they pay for their
own research. But it's pretty reliable about natural history.
What about the Dictionary of Biography! There's probably no motive for bias
in it, though it may be incomplete. Yet it's often hard to get a better source of
information about, say, a 19th century physician.
We can accept a claim in a reputable journal or reference source.
On the Internet you're likely to come across sites with very impressive names.
But anyone can start up an organization called the "American Institute for Economic
Analysis," or any other title you like, and get an address that ends with ".org". A
name is not enough to go by.
There are good sources for checking about the history and reputation of an
institute, for example, Research Centers Directory in your library and on the
Internet, or the Encyclopedia of Medical Organizations and Agencies in the library.
There's no reason to accept a claim made by an "institute" you don't know about.
Most remote from our experience and least reliable is what we hear and read
from what is called "the media." That includes newspapers, television, radio,
magazines. Remember, what you read on the Internet is not personal experience.
SECTION B Criteria for Accepting or Rejecting Claims 89
With these sources it's partly like trusting your friend and partly like trusting an
authority. The more you read a particular newspaper, for instance, the better you'll
be able to judge whether to trust its news gathering as reliable or not. The more you
read a particular magazine, the better you'll be able to judge whether there's an
editorial bias.
We can accept a claim in a media outlet that's usually reliable.
Here are three factors that are important in evaluating a news report.
• The outlet has been reliable in the past.
A local paper seems to get the information correct about local stories most of the
time. It's probably trustworthy in its account of a car accident. The National
Enquirer gets sued a lot for libel, so it may not be reliable about the love life of
a movie star.
• The outlet doesn't have a bias on this topic.
A television network consistently gives a bias against a particular presidential
candidate. So when it says that the candidate contradicted himself twice yesterday,
you should take it with a grain of salt. That may be true, but it may be a matter of
interpretation. Or it may be plain false.
Bias often follows the money. Try to find out who owns the media outlet or
who its principal advertisers are. If you hear NBC saying what a good job General
Electric Co. is doing in the "reconstruction" of Iraq, it's worth knowing that GE
owns NBC.
• The source being quoted is named.
Do you know who wrote the articles you read in your newspaper? "From our
sources" or no byline at all often means that the article is simply a reprint of a
publicity handout from a company.
Remember those Department of Defense unnamed sources? Don't trust them.
"Usually reliable sources" are not even as reliable as the person who is quoting them,
and anyway, they've covered themselves by saying "usually." And when someone is
unwilling to admit being a source, it's a sign he or she may have a motive to mislead.
An unnamed source is no better than a rumor. There's never good reason to accept
a claim from an unnamed source. That's particularly important to remember when
you're looking at sites on the Internet.
In summary, we have our personal experience and what we learn from other
sources. And we have to weigh that against what new claims are presented to us.
For example, a buddy tries to convince you that you shouldn't go to a restaurant with
a friend because she has AIDS and you could catch it from eating at the same table
with her. You reject the claim that you can catch AIDS in that manner, because
90 CHAPTER 5 Is That True?
you've read in a public health pamphlet that AIDS can be transmitted only through
contact with bodily fluids. You make your own argument: AIDS can only be
transmitted through contact with bodily fluids; when eating at a restaurant with a
friend it is extremely unlikely that you'll share bodily fluids with her; so it's safe to
go to a restaurant with a friend who has AIDS.
We can reject a claim that contradicts other claims we know to be true.
Sometimes, though, it isn't that we know one claim is true and the other false,
but that two contradictory claims are offered to us as premises, as in Example 11 of
Chapter 4, on p. 66. In that case, all we can do is suspend judgment.
Here, then, are the criteria we can use in evaluating unsupported claims.
Summary: When to accept and when to reject a claim
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Accept: We know the claim is true from our own experience.
Reject: We know the claim is false from our own experience.
(Exceptions: We have good reason to doubt our memory or our perception;
the claim contradicts other experiences of ours, and there is a good
argument against the claim.)
Reject: The claim contradicts other claims we know to be true.
OTHER SOURCES
Accept: The claim is made by someone we know and trust,
and the person is an authority on this kind of claim.
Accept: The claim is made by a reputable authority whom we can trust as an
expert about this kind of claim and who has no motive to mislead.
Accept: The claim is put forward in a reputable journal or reference.
Accept: The claim is in a media source that's usually reliable and has no
obvious motive to mislead, and the original source is named.
We don't have criteria for when to suspend judgment on a claim. That's the
default choice when we don't have good reason to accept or reject a claim.
Remember that these criteria are given in order of importance. Regardless of
how good the source may seem to be, you still need to trust your own experience.
"Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?" Groucho Marx
EXERCISES for Section B 91
Teacher Deb Harris could hardly believe what she was reading to her fourth-
grade class. Whales in Lake Michigan?
But that's what it said in her "Michigan Studies Weekly," a newspaper
distributed to 462 teachers statewide. Harris called Utah-based Studies Weekly,
Inc., which puts out the teaching aid, but she said an editor stood behind the
story. "I've lived here all my life—there are no whales in Lake Michigan,"
Harris recalled telling the editor.
A retraction was later posted on the company's Web site with an
&n
bsp; explanation that the false information came from a different Internet site intended
as a joke. "We at Studies Weekly want this to be a lesson to you," the apology
said. "Not all Web sites are true, and you cannot always believe them. When
researching, you should always look for a reliable site that has credentials (proof
of truthfulness)." Studies Weekly publications have a circulation of 1.2 million
readers in third through sixth grades nationwide.
The article read: "Every spring, the freshwater whales and freshwater
dolphins begin the 1300-mile migration from Hudson Bay to the warmer waters
of Lake Michigan." In reality, the closest whales get to Michigan is the salty
estuary at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, which is home to beluga whales.
Associated Press, November 17, 2002
Exercises for Section B
1. When should we suspend judgment on a claim?
2. a. Give five criteria for accepting an unsupported claim,
b. Give two criteria for rejecting an unsupported claim.
3. Explain why we should apply the criteria listed in the summary in the order in which
they are listed.
4. a. Describe two people you encounter regularly whose word you trust and say why you
believe them,
b. Give an example of a claim that one of them made that you shouldn't accept because
the knowledge or expertise he or she has does not bear on that claim.
5. List three categories of authorities you feel you can trust. State for which kind of
claims those kinds of authorities would be experts.
6. Give a recent example from some media outlet of an authority being quoted whose
claims you accepted as true.
7. Give an example from some media outlet of an authority being quoted whose expertise
does not bear on the claim being put forward, so you have no reason to accept the claim.
8. Give an example of an authority who made a claim recently that turned out to be false.
Do you think it was a lie? Or did the person just not know it was false?
9. Give an example of a claim you've heard repeated so often you think it's true, but which
you really have no reason to believe.
92 CHAPTER 5 Is That True?
10. Look at the front page of your local newspaper and the first page of the local section of
your newspaper and see if you can determine who wrote each article. Can you do the
same with your local TV newscast?
11. Which section of your local newspaper do you think is most reliable? Why?
12. Choose a magazine you often read and tell the class what biases you expect from it.
That is, for what kinds of claims in it should you suspend judgment rather than accept?
13. a. What part of a national newscast do you think is most likely to be true? Why?
b. Which part do you think is least reliable? Why?
14. Give an example of a news story you heard or read that you knew was biased because it
didn't give the whole story.
15. Find an article that has quotes from some "think tank" or "institute." Find out what bias that group would have.
16. Here is part of an article from the Associated Press, Nov. 2, 2004. Should you believe it?
Militants given $500,000 for hostages' release
Militants [in Iraq] released seven foreign hostages Wednesday after their employer
paid $500,000 ransom, while France mustered support from Muslims at home and
abroad to push for the release of two French journalists still held captive in Iraq. . . .
Militants waging a violent 16-month-old insurgency have turned to kidnapping
foreigners in recent months as part of their campaign to drive out coalition forces and
contractors. Other groups have taken hostages in hopes of extorting ransom,
sometimes masking their greed under a cloak of politics.
17. Choose one of the large national news broadcasting outlets and find out who owns the
company and what companies it owns or are owned by the same company.
18. Bring to class an article that praises some business or type of business that comes from
a magazine that has lots of advertising from that business or type of business.
19. Find an example of an argument that uses claims you know to be false, though not from
personal experience. (Letters to the editor in a newspaper are a good source.)
20. You tell your friend who's experimenting with heroin he should stop. It's dangerous.
He says you're no expert. Besides, you've never tried it. How do you respond?
21. Your friend who's an avid fan tells you that the basketball game on Saturday has been
cancelled. Five minutes later you hear on the radio that tickets are on sale for the game
on Saturday. Whom do you believe? Why?
22. Your doctor tells you that the pain in your back can't be fixed without surgery. You go
to the health-food store, and the clerk tells you they have a root extract that's been made
especially for back pain that'll fix your back. Whom do you believe? Why?
23. Tom: I'm going to start taking steroids.
Zoe: What? Are you crazy? They'll destroy your body.
Tom: No way. My coach said it will build me up. And my trainer at the health club
said he could get them for me.
Comment on Tom's reasons for believing that steroids won't harm his body.
EXERCISES for Section B 93
24. The old adage "Where there's smoke, there's fire" is a license to believe any rumor.
During the initial stages of the war in Kosovo and Yugoslavia, the following appeared in
USA Today (April 12, 1999). Is the following an example of that adage?
While it is impossible to independently verify the accounts [of human rights abuses
in Kosovo by Serbs] because human rights officials, aide workers and journalists are
not allowed to travel freely in Kosovo, the refugees on opposite sides of Macedonia
provided similar dates, times and locations of incidents involving Serb soldiers.
They also provided identical names of the victims, as well as such details as scars
and other physical attributes on the Serb soldiers who took them.
Lee was asked to decide whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment on some claims, with
an explanation of what criteria he's using. Dr. E didn't make any comments on his
homework, since Lee's answers are good.
Suzy prefers to go out with athletes.
accept reject suspend judgment
criteria: Personal experience. She told me so.
Japanese are good at math.
accept reject suspend judgment
criteria: I know everyone thinks this is so, but it's just a stereotype, isn't
it? I know a couple who aren't real good at math, but maybe they mean
"almost all"? It just seems so unlikely.
Crocodiles are found only in Asia and Africa.
accept reject suspend judgment
criteria: I think this is true. At least I seem to remember hearing it.
Crocodiles are the ones in Africa and alligators in the U.S. But I'm not
sure. So I guess I should suspend judgment.
25. Evaluate the following claims by saying whether you accept, reject, or suspend
judgment, citing the criteria you are using to make that decision.
a. Toads give you warts, (said by your mother)
b. Toads give you warts, (said by your doctor)
c. The moon rises in the west.
d. The Pacers beat the Knicks 92-84 last night, (heard on your local news)
e. They're marketing a new lipos
uction machine you can attach to your vacuum
cleaner, (in the weekly supplement to your Sunday paper)
f. You were speeding, (said by a police officer)
g. Boise-Cascade has plans to log all old-growth forests in California,
(said by a Sierra Club representative)
h. The United States government was not involved in the recent coup attempt in
Venezuela, (unnamed sources in the Defense Department, by the Associated Press)
i. Cats are the greatest threat to public health of any common pet.
(said by the author of this book)
94 CHAPTER 5 Is That True?
j. Cats are the greatest threat to public health of any common pet.
(said by the Surgeon General)
k. Crocodiles weep after eating their victims, hence the term "crocodile tears."
(in the travel section of your local newspaper)
1. They've started serving sushi at KFC. (said by your friend)
m. State Representative Hansen-Fong: The streets aren't safe. We need to get tougher
on crime. We should lock up more of those drug-pushers and scare people into
obeying the law. Get more police, lock the criminals up, and throw the key away.
And we also need to reduce taxes. We can't afford the bond proposition to build a
new prison.
C. Advertising and the Internet
1. Advertising
The truth-in-advertising laws weren't written because all the advertisers were always
telling us the truth. Many advertisements are arguments, with the (often unstated)
conclusion that you should buy the product, or frequent the establishment, or use the
service. Sometimes the claims are accurate, especially in print advertising for
medicines. But sometimes they are not. There's nothing special about them, though.
They should be judged by the criteria we've already considered.
If you think there should be more stringent criteria for evaluating ads, you're
not judging other claims carefully enough.
At the supermarket I saw small soft magnets for sale. On each was an
American flag with "God Bless America" written below it. On the box
was:
Show your support
CAR MAGNETS
A portion of the proceeds go to the
New York Firefighters and victims
Key Bank Disaster Relief Fund
Nothing else was written on the box or magnets—no name nor address
of the manufacturer. A search on the Internet for "Key Bank Disaster