Texasdave, this is a debate forum. We would appreciate at least occasionally statements put forth as fact be supported by some sort of reference. I'd ask that you find something that supports your contention. Who brainwashes unbelievers? How is that done? What makes you think it happens? Why is it done?
If you insist on pontificating, I'm going to have to consider many of your posts as weasel words.
Quote:
Weasel words are words or phrases that seemingly support statements without attributing opinions to verifiable sources, lending them the force of authority without letting the reader decide whether the source of the opinion is reliable. If a statement can't stand on its own without weasel words, it lacks neutral point of view, and the lack of given sources also implies a verifiability issue. Either a source for the statement should be found, or the statement should be removed.
The emergence of weasel-worded statements often has its roots in biased or normative statements, e.g. "Montreal is the best city in the world". Often, people who are convinced that some statement or other is true naturally want to see it mentioned in the articles where it is relevant; however, statements such as these tend to jump out at the reader as obvious opinion-stated-as-fact and quickly get rooted out. The problem of the weasel words starts when an editor realizes this and attempts to remedy the situation by modifying the statement to at least admit that it is not necessarily factual, e.g. "Some people say Montreal is the best city in the world. "
At first glance, this rephrasing appears to have solved the problem - clearly "some people say" does not equate to "it is a fact that". Yet it remains uninformative in a very fundamental sense, as the context of this statement is crucial to comprehending its significance, and none is provided.
|
Wikipedia:Avoid weasel words - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia