Nuxx:MPG.270dc82c89d9a5d698980c@news.zen.co.uk

Path: num2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!num1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!number.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border3.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!goblin1!goblin2!goblin.stu.neva.ru!multikabel.net!newsfeed20.multikabel.net!dedekind.zen.co.uk!zen.net.uk!hamilton.zen.co.uk!reader02.news.zen.co.uk.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID:  From: Nuxx Bar  Newsgroups: uk.net.news.moderation Subject: Re: URCM - my "mission" - eureka moment! Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 23:03:59 +0100 References: <8gba0hFhaU1@mid.individual.net> <8ggfviF2eiU1@mid.individual.net>    Lines: 55 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit User-Agent: MicroPlanet-Gravity/2.9.14 Organization: Zen Internet NNTP-Posting-Host: 7e45040b.news.zen.co.uk X-Trace: DXC=]:jLVXWooa;nN^nfM@]mn0YjZGX^207P;`, key@under.the.invalid says... > > JMS  wrote in > news:ukf6a6tfhv0l19307hmnoblun1je23crk3@4ax.com: > > > On Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:55:11 +0000 (UTC), Percy Picacity > > wrote: > > > > > > > >> You seem to be developing an almost JMS-like need to > >>constantly contradict everything you regard as wrong everytime it > >>appears. > > > > > > What's wrong with that? > > > > Given that some people keep spouting the same lies over and over > > again, to me it seems perfectly reasonable to question them - and > > their motives. > > > > The problem is - that there are a number of the psycholists who > > believe that if you repeat a lie often enough - it becomes the > truth. > > > > > If your objective is to prosecute some sort of war, that's fine. If > you want an enjoyable newsgroup to read and contribute to, it is > completely counterproductive and destructive.

While I can see where you're coming from, we are talking about deliberate *lying* here rather than genuine mistakes. For example, I am utterly and genuinely convinced that some of the people who claim that speed cameras save lives don't really believe that, and just pretend to think it because they hate cars. I also think some people lie about helmets and other issues. The "reason" behind lying usually seems to be something to do with promoting cycling and/or discouraging driving/motorcycling as modes of transport, and never mind how serious the side effects of their lying are.

I think it's grossly irresponsible and despicable to tell lies about something as important as road safety: something that's literally life and death. So if I see such a lie then I feel it's my duty to correct it if I can...I don't want the person to get away with it...I don't want them to have a place where they feel they're able to easily propagate their untruths. I suppose I feel less compelled to correct mistakes because you only have to correct someone's mistake once for them to stop making it, whereas a liar will simply repeat themselves whether corrected or not.

Correcting any one instance of a lie probably is next to futile, but do it often enough and I do think it frustrates the liar and makes it less likely that they'll convince the gullible, and that's a good thing is it not?