# 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:** 6
**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:** [July 30, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/101 "2022-07-30T18:34:09Z")
I don’t believe all your posts are in bad faith, @Sam_Stone. But the Hunter’s laptop stuff sure is. Even your own cites show there’s absolutely nothing to the story but rumor and innuendo. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/102 "2022-07-30T18:35:34Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > A Democratic government in New York shut down Indian Point. Just looking at this example, it looks like disgraced governor Cuomo [may have done so for corrupt reasons](https://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2017/1/6/natural-gas-promotor-at-center-of-new-york-corruption-scandal-pushed-to-close-indian-point-nuclear-plant). That said, if you’re talking about the left of 10-20 years ago, I’ll agree that there was more opposition to nuclear then. I’m just not seeing it much at all anymore. For example, [Mother Jones and the Whole Earth Catalog](https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-climate-change/) are opposing the closing on the Diablo Canyon plant. ---
**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:** [July 30, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/103 "2022-07-30T19:05:22Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Just looking at this example, it looks like disgraced governor Cuomo [may have done so for corrupt reasons](https://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2017/1/6/natural-gas-promotor-at-center-of-new-york-corruption-scandal-pushed-to-close-indian-point-nuclear-plant). That said, if you’re talking about the left of 10-20 years ago, I’ll agree that there was more opposition to nuclear then. I’m just not seeing it much at all anymore. For example, [Mother Jones and the Whole Earth Catalog](https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-climate-change/) are opposing the closing on the Diablo Canyon plant. I agree that the left in general has made progress towards nuclear, and that’s good. But if we want to solve climate change, it needs to be a major focus, and I’m not seeing that. More like a grudging, “well, maybe we shouldn’t shut down existing plants right now, and we should start studying more modern reactors.” But I really didn’t intend to debate global warming here. That’s why I tried to switch the discussion to something less contentious so we could talk more about understanding the other side rather than constantly attempting to ‘get’ them. ---
**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:** [July 30, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/104 "2022-07-30T19:17:40Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > That’s why I tried to switch the discussion to something less contentious so we could talk more about understanding the other side rather than constantly attempting to ‘get’ them. Okay. Can you explain why, despite the complete lack of a single damaging fact, you still consider the Hunter’s laptop thing to be a significant story and not manufactured bullshit? ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/105 "2022-07-30T21:31:08Z")
I’ll take, “Something, something, big guy, something,” for $200 Alex. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/106 "2022-07-30T22:25:23Z")
Heh, well ALMOST every single sentence in [this post](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/74)is such atrocious BS that I don’t have the time to parse it all. > [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to write such a long reply I’ll have to disgaree strongly, and to address some of the more salient annoyances of this… > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > …gish-gallop… > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > The thing is, you can’t spot misinformation on your own side if you don’t give a fair reading to the other side’s rebuttals. Nope - we give fair readings, alright, but when one has to contend with so much disingenuous reich wing batshittery (waaaay more so than from the left side, 'aight?), then spotting misinformation on our side, where there’s TONS LESS of it, is such a ridiculously moot nothingburger. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Keith Olbermann is a similar figure on the left. They are both polemicists and rhetorical bomb-throwers, and nothing they say should be believed without independent verification. You kidding me? Even just _mentioning_ him in the same sentence with Fucker so fucking reeks of false equivalence bullshittery. You sure did not, _at_ _all_, convincingly back up the comparison, either. I’ll stop here because - I really, _really_ could go on - (dare I say - even get “gish gallopy” about it!), but I’ve already wasted enough time with this. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/107 "2022-07-31T01:58:40Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It’s not the IPCC science that’s the problem, it’s the hysterical amplification of it in the media that bothers me. > > But what really bothers me is that stupid Republicans have responded to this with denialism Nitpick: It’s not that Republicans and conservatives in general are responding with denialism that was somehow provoked by popular-media oversimplifications of climate-change issues. It’s that Republicans/conservatives initiated this controversy in the first place with their full-on commitment to climate-change denialism right from the get-go. There is no approach that rational people can take to the climate-change issue that will inspire any more reasonable and constructive attitude on the part of Republicans/conservatives than what they’ve been giving us. Abusers can always invent reasons why their abuse was just a “response” to their victims somehow “provoking” them, but it’s never true. Yes, I agree that this evidence strongly confirms that Republicans/conservatives are stupid as well as insanely irrationally destructive, but popular media dialing down the climate-anxiety rhetoric isn’t going to fix that. Complaining about popular media excess in climate-anxiety rhetoric or liberal “lukewarmness” on nuclear-power proposals while Republicans are doubling down on climate-change denial is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. If you really want the world to have a shot at taking constructive measures to fix climate change, then help get Republicans out of office. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/108 "2022-07-31T02:01:48Z")
Sam can’t. He wants the US to suffer from his bad ideas while they remain unenacted in his Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/109 "2022-07-31T02:04:05Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > He wants the US to suffer from his bad ideas while they remain unenacted in his Canada. How fortunate for him that negative climate-change impacts always remain strictly within national borders. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2022, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/110 "2022-07-31T02:13:16Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > But I really didn’t intend to debate global warming here. Right on. Maybe now that you’re done talking climate change, you can answer that question about the “damaging info” you said had been validated on Hunter Biden’s laptop? ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/111 "2022-07-31T02:59:28Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > I’ll have to disgaree strongly, and to address some of the more salient annoyances of this… Even if I don’t agree with him, I can still appreciate him taking the time to write a detailed response. I mean he could have just responded with a “Fuck you.” ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/112 "2022-07-31T03:29:09Z")
I guess I had more of an issue with the details of such responses than you did - fair enough. Sure, beats a “fuck you” response, but having to wade through that murk…ouch. 🤢 ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/113 "2022-07-31T05:07:47Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > beats a “fuck you” response This, > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Well, this was a waste of time. _is_ “fuck you” in Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/114 "2022-07-31T06:18:20Z")
_Harrumph!_ …and which this Canucklehead should be _thoroughly outraged by!_ I’m taking _such_ exception to that Canaphopic\* linguistic assault, that the resulting vapours are clouding my rational thought processes to come up with some zingy riposte, other than maybe “NOOOOOT!” \*New word. You’re welcome, everyone. ETA: Oh. Well. Colour me [NIJL (now I just learned).](https://phobia.fandom.com/wiki/Canaphobia) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/115 "2022-07-31T07:46:36Z")
The problem with Canadian zingy ripostes is they lose all their zing because it takes too long to read them with their extra letters such as adding a _u_ in _vapors_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/116 "2022-07-31T07:54:49Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > … with their extra letters such as adding a _u_ in _vapors_. Those are not “extra letters”. This is what is referred to in the world of orthography as “correct spelling”. It was Americans who perfidiously dropped the “u” as a “fuck you” to the British – though they missed an opportunity as that really should be “fuck yo”. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/117 "2022-07-31T08:06:34Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > > [@Monty](#): > > > > … with their extra letters such as adding a _u_ in _vapors_. > > Those are not “extra letters”. This is what is referred to in the world of orthography as “correct spelling”. It was Americans who perfidiously dropped the “u” as a “fuck you” to the British – though they missed an opportunity as that really should be “fuck yo”. - Woldn’t that be “fck yo”? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/118 "2022-07-31T08:12:58Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Woldn’t that be “fck yo”? No, it wud be (or shud be) “fuck yo”. Noah Webster only deigned to drop the “u” from “ou” combos. Though Lord only knows why his quest for lexicographic efficiency didn’t motivate him to spell his first name “Noa”. Or maybe just “No”. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/119 "2022-07-31T08:36:34Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > > > I will not engage in debate here. > > … Of course you don’t want to engage in a discussion here. Much better to cower elsewhere and continue your spew. > [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Sure, beats a “fuck you” response, but having to wade through that murk…ouch. I realize that even a mild defense of **Sam** isn’t popular here, but am I the only one who sees a contradiction here? Damned if he fails to respond, and damned if he does. Despite his denials, I do feel that **Sam** is so mired in far-right (or extreme libertarian, if he prefers) ideology that it has warped his perception of the world beyond recognition, sort of like spacetime beyond a black hole event horizon. But I’m still inclined to some level of defense because he’s an intelligent poster who is, in fact, usually willing to defend his views. I agree with **Sam** that fact-based debates – _ **as long as they really are fact-based** _ – are helpful to each side being able to understand the other. That said, I’m with others here who are anxious to learn just exactly what _ **damaging** _ information has been _ **verifiably** _ found on the infamous Hunter Biden laptop, as @Sam_Stone has claimed. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/120 "2022-07-31T13:26:48Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I realize that even a mild defense of **Sam** isn’t popular here, but am I the only one who sees a contradiction here? Damned if he fails to respond, and damned if he does. I don’t see a contradiction- I guess it’s nice that he put an effort into his replies, but we wish the replies weren’t filled with so much garbage. Appreciate the effort; disappointed in the product [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881.md?page=7)