Do you make a distinction between "lying" and being "misinformed"?
By The Horse
@TheHorse (214031)
Walnut Creek, California
June 25, 2024 12:37pm CST
I had a friend several years ago who was convinced that the constellations Scorpio and Orion occupied the same night sky: that is, they were both visible at the same time.
As someone whose first college major was Physics, and as someone who watched the night sky for more than 20 years when I would visit my horse after work, I knew that Scorpio was (and is) a Summer constellation, while Orion was (and is) a Winter constellation.
I tried to explain this to my friend, but he would not have it.I showed him star maps on the internet. He still would not have it. He said, "I took a Ptolemy class in College. I know."
He has Dyslexia, and sometimes struggles to take in new information.
If he were (now) to say to someone, "Scorpio and Orion are in the same night sky," would he be lying? Or just misinformed?
Does the fact that he has been exposed to the truth, with evidence, change whether he is "lying" or just misinformed?
I know this same dilemma is relevant to stuff happening in the news. That's probably a part of why I brought it up.
When someone you know, or someone in the news, makes a false statement, do you stop to ponder whether they're lying or misinformed? Does someone abdicate their right to say "I was misinformed" when they have been exposed to evidence that shows them to have been wrong?
Are cognitive deficits/mental illness issues an "excuse," as in the case of my friend?
Do you know people like my friend? (We actually haven't spoken in a few years now.)
12 people like this
9 responses
You are incorrect.@TheHorse (214031)
• Walnut Creek, California
26 Jun
You are incorrect here. However (I checked at my horse's house, as well as with a Physics professor at UC Berkeley), if you spend a few hours watching the stars in Spring or Fall, you might see one of the two constellations in question rising soon after the other has set. This would be best tried on a mountain top, with no nearby mountains, as that would "expand the horizon."
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (214031)
• Walnut Creek, California
26 Jun
@LadyDuck This isn't opinion. This is astronomy. Scorpius and Orion are 180 degrees opposed, relative to Earth. However, as I said, you might be able to see one set and the other rise on the same Fall or Spring evening. Are you sure you're not a Trump supporter? 
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (102054)
• Marion, Ohio
26 Jun
If they don't know it's wrong I can get over it. But when they repeat stories over and over after being proven false I don't. But some people do have trouble understanding some things
2 people like this
@TheHorse (214031)
• Walnut Creek, California
26 Jun
@wolfgirl569 Actually, I am pretty patient with adults as well. But people like my "friend" frustrate me. Am I frustrated with them, or with a system that did not help them? I do not know.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (77609)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
25 Jun
For these reasons especially misinformation when I write up something I do not rely on the information I have found, I check out facts in at least two more places, At times I have discovered that if I were to accept the information as is I would be totally wrong and that would really upset me, I always want to be well informed,
2 people like this
@akalinus (42268)
• United States
26 Jun
Way back, I wrote an article about The Voynich Manuscript. I consulted many different references and they all said approximately the same thing. I got paid for it and published online. Much later, I found out that it was inaccurate, and that all the sources I consulted gave the wrong information. I felt like giving up writing. Fortunately, the writing site I used went under and wiped all the articles.
2 people like this
@akalinus (42268)
• United States
26 Jun
@TheHorse I don't know the legal implications of anything. If I say I can flap my arms and fly to India, we both know that is untrue. It is a lie unless we are writing a story with moral ending or it is just a kid pretending.
Once, my brother and I tried to dig a hole to China. We now know that would not happen but we believed we could. So, was that a lie if I said we are digging a hole to China? I don't know anything.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (170715)
• United States
26 Jun
He believes that what he knows is correct; so he is misinformed. I don't know anyone like your friend. I love the picture. Have a good day.
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@TheHorse (214031)
• Walnut Creek, California
27 Jun
@LindaOHio Our fur friends are often among our best friends.
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@LindaOHio (170715)
• United States
27 Jun
@TheHorse I can imagine. That's the way I felt about our dogs.
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@vandana7 (99882)
• India
30 Jun
Like I am unable to convince you how to make us YouTube sensation with romantic songs? Evil Grin.
Ok...seriously, I have with my rare profound insight thought.......... and felt...all things are right, and all things are wrong. It is time and context that makes things right or wrong. So everything can be made to sound or feel right, and everything can be made to sound and feel wrong.
I used to do deposition summaries for some law firm. When I would read the defendant's side, it would seem he was right, when I read the plaintiff's end, it would seem he was right. With all my inclination towards logic, I would be swaying. Imagine. So yeah the judge's job is tough. They have to look for that one piece of hidden information that makes it right for that era or time.
Coming to your Scorpio and Orion.......I would think don't constellations exist no matter what is the season out here? And your winter is summer in Judy's Australia. So does Judy get to see Orion, while you have to settle for Scorpio? Or is there variations in the proximity of earth to such constellations. My ignorance...
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (214031)
• Walnut Creek, California
1 Jul
There are constellations in the Southern Hemisphere we cannot see up here. And vice versa. You'd have to ask Judy abut the Big Dipper, one of our most easy to see Northern constellations. I have never seen the Southern Cross. Ask Judy about that one. I want to see it before I'm gone.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (65344)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
25 Jun
Your friend made a blanket statment that's mostly true. So, I don't think you could say he's either lying or misinformed. He neglected to add, 'at different times of the year'' but that's not an outright lie. After all there's only one night sky. we see it at different times depending on where we are in the world. And, if you believe the constlations move, when we have summer someone's having winter. When we're enjoying the day, it's night elsewhere. It's a matter of putting things into perspective at that point.
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@TheHorse (214031)
• Walnut Creek, California
25 Jun
No, he was not making a blanket statement that was partially true. Our conversation went on for some time, and I examined such a possibility. He was misinformed, and I was able to show him that he was misinformed. My question would be: Would it be a lie if he repeated his false information to someone else, having been shown the truth? Or could his Dyslexia, and its accompanying deficits in taking in new information, render him "exonerated" of lying?
@porwest (85053)
• United States
27 Jun
There is definitely a difference. We see it every single day of our lives. Sometimes things are simply matters of leaving out certain details even, to fit a narrative, or make it sound one way or the other.
It's like when it was reported about covid deaths. NO ONE showed us the percentages. Only the numbers. Because of course the numbers looked and sounded way more scary than the percentages did. It's not a lie or even misinformation. It's simply misLEADING.
1 person likes this
