I often use the heuristic that if two sources with opposing Narratives both claim that a certain fact is true, it is strong evidence that the fact is indeed true. Are there cases where this heuristic fails? E.g. where both sides claim a fact is true (likely with different motives), but it is actually false?
A category that comes to mind is when one side is a little terrorist group, who wants to claim that they’re big and important and powerful, and another side is an authoritarian government (or some branch thereof), who also wants to claim that the little terrorist group is big and important and powerful so they can justify requests for more funding and for encroachment on civil liberties to fight the terrorists. A third side would be those opposing the requests of the second side (i.e. civil liberty advocates and small-budget advocates), but they’re not always represented.
Generally, be looking for unrepresented third sides that one of the first two sides is exploiting (and the other doesn’t care about or is also exploiting).
I often use the heuristic that if two sources with opposing Narratives both claim that a certain fact is true, it is strong evidence that the fact is indeed true. Are there cases where this heuristic fails? E.g. where both sides claim a fact is true (likely with different motives), but it is actually false?
A category that comes to mind is when one side is a little terrorist group, who wants to claim that they’re big and important and powerful, and another side is an authoritarian government (or some branch thereof), who also wants to claim that the little terrorist group is big and important and powerful so they can justify requests for more funding and for encroachment on civil liberties to fight the terrorists. A third side would be those opposing the requests of the second side (i.e. civil liberty advocates and small-budget advocates), but they’re not always represented.
Generally, be looking for unrepresented third sides that one of the first two sides is exploiting (and the other doesn’t care about or is also exploiting).