Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Why So Many Viral Stories are False

Scott Alexander:
Even when people crusade against real evils, the particular stories they focus on are false disproportionately often. Why? Because the thousands of true stories all have some subtleties or complicating factors, whereas liars are free to make up things which exactly perfectly fit the narrative. Given thousands of stories to choose from, the ones that bubble to the top will probably be the lies.

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