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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
 Posted - 02/22/2003 : 08:18:50
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Here's a story I ran across the other day;
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/2003/01/08/news/local/4895812.htm
I remember a couple of years ago, polygraphs had become commonplace on television. They were being used by police to help solve big cases, and even day time talk shows were using them to get to the bottom of relationship conflicts. They were advertised as the catchall for national securoty screening purposes. They advertised accuracy rates of over 90% on shows like The Jenny Jones Show. Soon, I found myself accepting these claims without the slightest skepticism.
http://www.polygraph.org/
I had read much about the merrits, or demerrits of lie detectors in the early '80's, but for some reason, I had forgotten my previous skepticism in favor of a new outlook that took for granted that there had been some sort of technicological advancement in polygraph testing.
There hadn't! I had just let the media assertions, and the presumptions of those around me creep into my own personal belief system. Sonetimes, if something becomes too commonplace, I may tend to loose track of the fact that I might still need to question it. http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/polygraph/ota/
http://www.csicop.org/list/listarchive/msg00243.html
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309084369/html/
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"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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walt fristoe
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2003 : 10:53:31 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Tim
Sometimes, if something becomes too commonplace, I may tend to loose track of the fact that I might still need to question it.
Yes, I think this is how religion has become so firmly ensconced in our culture. Other things, like UFOs, bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle, etc. are kept alive in the public mind, by the media, until they become so commonplace that it is easy to begin accepting them without thinking. And critical thinking skills are already lacking in the vast majority of people, because they weren't taught them in school. They were taught what to think instead of how to think.  |
"If God chose George Bus of all the people in the world, how good could God be?"
Bill Maher |
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