Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Just the facts, ma'am

An addendum to this post about the problems when uncertainty is disregarded. In addition to, or instead of, expressing uncertainty about something, one can simply focus on the part that is certain. E.g. if someone asks who George Zimmerman is, instead of describing him as "that guy who murdered Trayvon Martin," one could describe him as "that guy accused/acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin." Factual and indisputable. It works for less concrete statements too, like "Volvos have a reputation for safety," instead of "Volvos are really safe." Can't hurt to state only the parts we can all agree on as facts, and to debate the parts that are debatable.

No comments:

Post a Comment