Facts are oh so convincing. The problem can be that the facts you want don't exist. As Jef said in a previous post, making up facts works very well and is fun. Even better, you could be original propagator of a factoid.
A very quick example of a Factoid Propagation from many opinionators - especially those who know nothing about science, except the "science" of economics. (Economic science isn't quite the oxymoron that is social science. At least economists can do some maths.)
Alan Wood in his Australian Column, Greenie alarmists miss target:
Greenhouse panic is based on alarmist climate change scenarios produced by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body showing increasing signs of being governed by greenhouse politics rather than objective science.
Note he merely asserts this as "fact", that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is now based on Green politics, without even an echo of a whiff of a reason - hence a factoid. If Peter Garrett were appointed to the Panel, then he'd have a point.
Also note the Weasel Words "panic" and "alarmist".
________
Technorati Tagged - Fallacy, Skepticism, Factoid Propagation, Weasel Word.
