Luke Nichter has an op-ed in the WSJ titled A Vietnam Myth That Refuses to Die. It illustrates how an allegation can be widely repeated and come to be accepted as fact if it fits in with the preconceptions that most journalists share, even if the evidence to support it is flimsy. We see this on crime issues regularly.
This is why the journalism profession would be greatly improved by greater diversity of viewpoint. Everyone has confirmation bias. It's only human. But if a group of people has a diversity of viewpoints, then any assertion will have a substantial number of people willing to challenge it.
This is why the journalism profession would be greatly improved by greater diversity of viewpoint. Everyone has confirmation bias. It's only human. But if a group of people has a diversity of viewpoints, then any assertion will have a substantial number of people willing to challenge it.
What a conincidence. I was just reading about a case of confirmation bias that almost led to a wrongful murder conviction. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/04/19/framed-for-murder-by-his-own-dna
Of course, this article does not refute the evidence in Haldeman’s 1968 notes that Nixon wanted Chennault to contact S Vietnam and intervene in the peace
talk negotiations.
The author says in response to a comment that he will address that issue in a longer work on the subject.
That will be a pretty important book given the recent Nixon bio about the Haldeman notes.