A bunch of the stuff he said cant entirely be disproven. Even the eating pets thing wasnt proof, it was the word of a local government official who republicans are likely not to trust.
I don’t know there was more they can besides appeals to authority.
Republicans started this racist rumor about Haitians in Ohio.
The media talks to city officials and determines that these claims are unfounded.
Republicans claim that the city’s response wasn’t an outright denial, and suggest that this lends some amount of legitimacy that it might be happening.
But that’s bullshit. Government PR (and pretty much every journalist) knows to never make statements of negative fact, because you cannot logically prove a negative. It’s the same reason newspapers use “allegedly” to describe accused criminals: because future events could hypothetically change the truthfulness of the statement.
And that’s all these claims will ever be: hypothetical. When all you have is a hypothesis, it is irresponsible to run away with it as if it were evidence of anything.
“Can’t be disproven” is the default state of most social issues. That alone is equivalent to having zero evidence, and so repeating the completely baseless claims that Haitians might be eating pets, while technically true in a hypothetical sense, could be said about literally any group you want, because there will exist the same amount of evidence of it being true (none).
One can only conclude that anyone peddling this narrative solely wishes to spread racist ideas about Haitians.
I’m pointing out why its hard to disprove the stuff trump says, not defending them. You can’t say dogs and cats aren’t being eaten because you can’t prove that, you can say that a reputable source said its not happening.
The debate is about the candidates, if they want to lie and make fools out of themselves they can. I do like that they were able to fact check the Springfield stuff because it sounds like the rumors are causing racism and violence. Hopefully the fact check helped a bit.
I’m willing to change my opinion though. What were some other things they could have fact checked but didnt?
It’s not the job of the person disproving it to prove anything. It’s the job of the person making the assertion and “Well, someone said it on TV!” isn’t proof.
A bunch of the stuff he said cant entirely be disproven. Even the eating pets thing wasnt proof, it was the word of a local government official who republicans are likely not to trust.
I don’t know there was more they can besides appeals to authority.
You’re falling for their propaganda.
Republicans started this racist rumor about Haitians in Ohio.
The media talks to city officials and determines that these claims are unfounded.
Republicans claim that the city’s response wasn’t an outright denial, and suggest that this lends some amount of legitimacy that it might be happening.
But that’s bullshit. Government PR (and pretty much every journalist) knows to never make statements of negative fact, because you cannot logically prove a negative. It’s the same reason newspapers use “allegedly” to describe accused criminals: because future events could hypothetically change the truthfulness of the statement.
And that’s all these claims will ever be: hypothetical. When all you have is a hypothesis, it is irresponsible to run away with it as if it were evidence of anything.
“Can’t be disproven” is the default state of most social issues. That alone is equivalent to having zero evidence, and so repeating the completely baseless claims that Haitians might be eating pets, while technically true in a hypothetical sense, could be said about literally any group you want, because there will exist the same amount of evidence of it being true (none).
One can only conclude that anyone peddling this narrative solely wishes to spread racist ideas about Haitians.
I’m pointing out why its hard to disprove the stuff trump says, not defending them. You can’t say dogs and cats aren’t being eaten because you can’t prove that, you can say that a reputable source said its not happening.
The debate is about the candidates, if they want to lie and make fools out of themselves they can. I do like that they were able to fact check the Springfield stuff because it sounds like the rumors are causing racism and violence. Hopefully the fact check helped a bit.
I’m willing to change my opinion though. What were some other things they could have fact checked but didnt?
It’s not the job of the person disproving it to prove anything. It’s the job of the person making the assertion and “Well, someone said it on TV!” isn’t proof.