# A serious question for Sam Stone on Factual Errors **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 11, 2021, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881 "2021-12-11T12:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/481 "2023-01-30T19:28:54Z")
I will say that Sam does an excellent job of deflecting attention from his errors by donning his martyr suit. Pitting him only helps that. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/482 "2023-01-30T19:43:08Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > You are a good poster outside the pit, and if you respectfully point out an error I made in a thread where I make it, I will readily apologize for it there if I think you are correct. If this were true, this Pit thread wouldn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/483 "2023-01-30T19:51:25Z")
Poor, poor Sam. If we weren’t so mean to him, undoubtedly he’d address his factual errors and apologize for them. But we’re just too mean, too insistent on pointing out his errors and asking him to apologize. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/484 "2023-01-30T19:58:15Z")
Poor Sam? Nah, I’m doing fine. I’m not the one flinging spittle in the Pit because I can’t stand what someone else is saying. That’s you. I hope you find a more fulfilling and rewarding way to spend your time. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/485 "2023-01-30T20:01:39Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > If this were true, this Pit thread wouldn’t exist. Yes it would, because the point of these threads is to attempt to drive conservatives off this board, or otherwise make their lives miserable. There is no way to avoid that so long as the world is filled with triggered partisan assholes who cannot abide opinions they don’t agree with. Hey, remember when I got pitted like 200 times and was told to apologize for saying that the Hunter Biden Laptop might be real? That was fun. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/486 "2023-01-30T20:01:42Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I’m not the one flinging spittle in the Pit because I can’t stand what someone else is saying. That’s you. I hope you find a more fulfilling and rewarding way to spend your time. “I’m not the one insulting people in the Pit, you _loser!_” ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/487 "2023-01-30T20:04:18Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Nah, I’m doing fine. Wrong, but fine. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/488 "2023-01-30T20:05:29Z")
Retaliation is not the same as instigation. I have never pitted anyone on this board that I can recall. I am unfailingly civil to people who are civil with me, even if they have gone postal on me in the Pit. But you want to start shit with me, be prepared for blowback. I’m not your doormat. I maintain that the Pit is a stain on this otherwise fine board, and the people who enjoy living in it are some of the worst people on this board. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/489 "2023-01-30T20:08:19Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > So, he can be better than what many think he is like. The mistery is why he does not want to. And [Rachel Carson](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/crazy-lies-haters-threw-at-rachel-carson-25183450/) still sends Sam her regards. This is a fair cop. I read Carson probably when I was under 20, and was talking from memory. I will accept that I may have been wrong in that categorization until I get a chance to read “Silent Spring” again, in which case I may have further opinions. But for now, I’ll accept that maybe I got that wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/490 "2023-01-30T20:11:05Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I am unfailingly civil to people who are civil with me… If you consider habitual and serial dishonesty to be “civil,” sure. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > But you want to start shit with me, be prepared for blowback. I’m prepared, Sam. Show us what you got. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/491 "2023-01-30T20:12:44Z")
Flinging spittle? Got a cite? My recollection is that my criticisms of you, in the Pit or elsewhere, were very specific and based on your posts and nothing more incendiary than “that was pretty dumb”. It seems to me like you might be latching onto the right-wing trend of a persecution fetish. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/492 "2023-01-30T20:21:25Z")
Well then, **maybe** I will think that you are getting better. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/493 "2023-01-30T20:26:51Z")
Years ago you helped change my opinion on climate change. Not only did I say I had been wrong, but I credited you with your part in changing my thinking. How many users on this board do that? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/494 "2023-01-30T20:30:09Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Flinging spittle? Got a cite? I had one, but a Sea Lion ate it. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/495 "2023-01-30T20:33:50Z")
Speaking of sea lions… > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I am unfailingly civil to people who are civil with me, even if they have gone postal on me in the Pit. [![](https://i.imgur.com/a1LSxWW.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/a1LSxWW.png) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/496 "2023-01-30T21:34:51Z")
Well, on climate change, don’t think one can forget that you still call cites from the ones dealing with the issue as being “glurge”. When you say that few can change their opinion, the reality is that it looks here as if you are “buying time” like [Chapelle advised Ye](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/11/13/dave-chappelle-snl-kanye-antisemitism/). ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/497 "2023-01-30T22:09:44Z")
I see. So even if I admit I was wrong on something I’ll just get accused of ‘buying time’. So what’s the point? The point of struggle sessions is not to get at the truth. It’s to put people who you think are ‘wrong’ through a wringer to punish them, make yourselves feel better about your own beliefs, and to be a lesson to others who might not agree with you. Then you use the admission of wrongness, if you get one, to go, “See! That person now ADMITS he was wrong! He’s guilty!” And if the person ever offers an opinion in the future that you don’t like, he’s now an ADMITTED LiAR whose opinion on anything can be ignored. Hey, it worked for the Soviets and the Cultural Revolution in China. People on the left love their struggle sessions and forced confessions. It’s like when conservative university professors who step out of line get told they must write an apology or be fired. They write the apology, and the apology is used as an admission of malfeasance and they get fired anyway. You can’t win. You can just ignore the game for what it is, and mock the people who engage in it for the petty tyrants they are. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/498 "2023-01-30T22:09:47Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > will readily apologize for it there if I think you are correct Well, that was YOMANKB hilarious. When have you not been “correct”? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/499 "2023-01-30T22:11:27Z")
With you I admit it’s hard to find such a time, since your political ideas are just so excrutiatingly bad. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.E](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.e/32/8932_2.png) [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/500 "2023-01-30T22:18:45Z")
The ironic thing is, showing humility and admitting when you’re wrong actually improves one’s credibility in the long run, but there’s a certain kind of person who sees this as weakness and will do anything other than admit fault. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881.md?page=26)