Old and busted: "problematic." New and hot: "complex legacies."
For a while it was fashionable to rebut any inconvenient argument by saying "that's been debunked." Now I think it will be easier, and more sophisticated, to observe that the idea has a complex legacy. Find me something with a simple legacy instead. Something pure. Something this week.
5 comments:
We could start a list of red flag terms used by journalists to "refute" a claim they can't prove false:
"Deceptively edited"
"Discredited"
"Controversial"
"A partisan talking point"
"Distraction from the larger issue"
"Deflection"
"a clear instance of 'what-about'ism' "
"trivially true"
"technically true but misleading and out of context"
"only true in a narrow statistical sense"
"a well-coordinated smear"
"a conspiracy theory promoted on talk-radio"
"only reported by Fox News"
"which has no legal basis"
"which has no conclusive evidence"
"which a majority of polls dispute"
"A frequently asserted stereotype"
"a racist assumption"
Silly me. I hoped the recognition of complexity might mean improved, thoughtful outcomes. But no, they’re still just ‘canceling’ under a different name.
...something imaginary
"officials familiar with the matter"
"senior officials"
"...:report"
Eric Hines
Mr. Melcher, fantastic list.
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