Claim: Well, okay, they're not actually saying that it's useless. Just potentially counter-productive. An article last September pointed to cognitive science research showing that debunking myths can have the effect of reinforcing the very myths you're trying to refute. That's because the human brain is hardwired with a lot of shortcuts. One of those shortcuts: Over time, we tend to forget the "not" part of a claim while retaining the rest. So "Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction" becomes "Iraq had WMDs." Now,
Fact-check: Fact-Checking Is Useless - FactCheck.org
Verdict: well, okay, they're not actually saying that it's useless. just potentially counter-productive. an article last september pointed to cognitive science research showing that debunking myths can have the effect of reinforcing the very myths you're trying to refute. that's because the human brain is hardwired with a lot of shortcuts. one of those shortcuts: over time, we tend to forget the "not" part of a claim while retaining the rest. so "iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction" becomes "iraq had wmds." now,
Organisation: FactCheck.org
Author: Joe Miller
Date published: 2008-09-15T18:12:41