Muse – False Certainty

Two comments on misrepresenting a guess as a fact and both are for the misrepresentation. Interesting.

Perhaps it’s just me, but I prefer that assertions of success or failure be grounded in fact. Every time I hear someone make the “we’re safer cause we haven’t been hit in X amount of time” argument, I cringe. It smacks of the anti-tiger rock(How can you prove this rock wards off tigers? You don’t see any around here, do you?)

It’s dangerous to make statements like that. It breeds a false sense of confidence that can effect how people act. It’s like walking down a hallway that looks clear, when in truth it could be lined with traps and deadfalls. Walking down it confident that it is empty and walking down it with just caution could mean the difference between being aware enough to dodge and not.

The same for every instance when our leaders have stated ‘the terrorists are on the run’. There has been no route in the ‘War on Terror’. The terrorists are continuing to fight, continuing to kill and make things worse for the US every day that we linger in this stalemate. Any claim to the contrary is an obvious lie. That people would say the lie is the best thing to do worries me.

Why do some people choose positive ignorance over judicious truth?