[Tango-L] Style Wars: Truth and Truthiness

[meaning of life]

if you want to see how this forum deals with "information that contradicts its' views" go read the responses to queries about "close embrace", "whether tango music is uninspiring", or "if you dance tango to non tango music, is it still tango?". the reponses to these topics reminded me of the responses to non conformists in basic training (see boot party on wikipedia). from the condescending remarks to the pure vitriol, certainly, this forum is not open to contradicting viewpoints or even queries. interestingly, in my case, the non public responses where well constructed and quite helpful (even the ones that disagreed), indicating that people are "afraid" to contradict the group publicly.


The Tangonista
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> Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:32:41 -0800
> From: anfractuoso at gmail.com
> To: tango-l at mit.edu
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Style Wars: Truth and Truthiness
>
> On Nov 27, 2007 12:59 PM,  wrote:
>
>> I don't see what authoritarians (right-wing or otherwise) have to do with
>> it. Truthiness is the result of informal networks of like-minded
>> individuals who reinforce each others' perspectives and help maintain
>> individual biases. The key to an unbiased outcome is that there is a
>> mechanism for sharing and aggregating the information and that observers
>> are independent of each other rather than polarized into identifiable
>> groups with self-perpetuating biases.
>
> But I think the key is how these groups deal with information that
> contradicts their views. The biased outcome/truthiness only persists
> if unfavourable facts are selectively rejected, i.e. the outcome is
> unfalsifiable. This apparently tends to happen with authoritarians
> more, hence my mention of the concept.
>
> So I think it is not whether participants in informal networks are
> polarized or independent, but whether they allow or not their theories
> and views to be falsifiable.
>
> With best regards,
>
> Konstantin
> Victoria, Canada
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