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Facts, vs Fact Claims, vs Conclusions.
The detective says, Just give me the facts.
The problem: Most people don't know
how to tell a fact from a fact claim.

Today, the difference between facts, fact claims, and conclusions. This links with the opportunity to help get more facts into textbooks.

You can get facts to say anything!
We all hear that. How to answer?

Most recently, for me, the claim came from a friend angry at me for finding out that her supposed facts were untruths, and that the actual facts were quite different.

So, can one get the facts to say anything?

No. Not at all.

One can, however, get fact claims (things presented as facts) to say just about everything. A few days ago, for instance, I came across the fact claim that there was no evidence that a even single Jew had been killed in the Holocaust.

Many fact claims are believed by the unwary - especially when the claims back beliefs. In these cases, people (like my friend) are passing on untruths (about Trump, in her case).

But the people creating the fact claims know that the claims are untrue - are lies. They're intentionally spreading lies.

Goebbel, Hitler's propaganda minister, is famous for saying: If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.

While many facts claims are gobbled up like candy by sugar-addicts, the same people tend to react to facts as if they were blatant untruths.

With Islam, for example, there's rampant name-calling of the people who present facts.

Here's another example. Years ago I came across research showing that, after World War II, many German prisoners of war were starved and otherwise pushed to die in Allied prisoner of war camps in France. The researcher was vilified as a Holocaust denier (which he was not) and also as a non-historian (as if only a historian could do proper research).


How can one tell a fact from a fact claim? One checks carefully. It helps if one knows, somewhat at least, how to check.

What's a conclusion, by the way? It's the outcome of the investigation: is this true or not? The problem: many conclusions are presented as if they were facts. "It's wrong to be judgmental." That's a conclusion. We're not supposed to question it. But entirely missing: any justification for accepting the conclusion.


And that brings me to Roy White, who heads Truth in Textbooks. In 32 textbooks, over 1500 fact-errors were found. How? A team of people, trained to check, went through the textbooks, one fact claim after the other.

There is a huge amount of work ahead for Truth in Textbooks. Last year there were 2 online training groups of 50 people. The coming year there are 4. But dozens more would be needed. More volunteers are needed.

How did so many falsehoods get into textbooks? There are no mechanisms in place for fact-checking textbooks, and no sanctions against publishers who publish textbooks with even a massive number of fact-errors.

A important fact: many textbook companies in the States have been bought by Islamics.

If Roy's project interests you, here's more info:
MISSION STATEMENT:
http://truthintexastextbooks.com/mission/
ABOUT THE PROJECT:
http://truthintexastextbooks.com/about-us-2/
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/truthintextbooks
CONTACT: tnt.textbooks@gmail.com


The fact-checking is "bandaid" work. An underlying problem is that there is no policy that ensures reasonable accuracy in textbooks - like sanctions against publishers whose books violate that standard.

But that's for the future. Now we need to fight the current fires of truth claims masquerading as facts. This gives students some protection from popular falsehoods. Also, a huge stack of evidence is being put together about the systemic problem of untruths in textbooks.

All the best to all who care and dare,

Elsa


PS. There's more than one good approach to getting the facts out, by the way. The kids' video on Islam - Islam Who What & How - doesn't mention the morass of truth claims about Islam taught to most kids in the West. Instead, in just 9 minutes, kids learn a huge number of facts. Fun, easy, simple. And after viewing the video, hopefully it's much harder to get them to swallow, unchallenged, truth claims that are very different.

If you haven't watched or shared the kids' video yet, here are 2 choices:
Youtube:
https://youtu.be/vsN5lvu1SZk
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/WorldTruthSummit
Thank you to all of you who are helping to get the word out.

By the way, the video was just uploaded to Facebook a couple of days ago. In 2 days, the post has reached 28,984 people, and the video has been viewed 10,378 times.


PPS. More truth here. There's a lot available on the suicide of the European nations. The message is the same, country after country: self-inflicted racial and cultural death. Here's something from Canada - Canada in Decay:
https://www.amazon.ca/Canada-Decay-Immigration-Diversity-Euro-Canadians/dp/1910881937
https://www.amazon.com/Canada-Decay-Immigration-Diversity-Euro-Canadians/dp/1910881937

If someone from 50 years ago suddenly were plopped into this, he or she would not believe it. I've thought of a number of incidents. But the specific incidents are irrelevant. It's the mass of anti-freedom changes - in the name of multiculturalism and celebration of diversity.




For lots more, come explore
http://elsasblog.com
and
http://ElsasEmporium.com


posted Sept 12, 2017

Freedom of Religion and PRIORITIES.
Top Priority: Liberty until Harm,
Liberty to Flourish,
NOT Freedom of Religion.
Or we have no basis for morality at all.





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Facts, vs Fact Claims, vs Conclusions.
The detective says, Just give me the facts.
The problem: Most people don't know
how to tell a fact from a fact claim.

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