patrick.net

Quit reading all those conspiracy theories! Schoolmarmish NPR ran a scolding story yesterday headlined, “Politically charged rumors and conspiracy theories about Helene flourish on X.”

X! Corporate media’s bane and its newest bogeyman. Without X, without free speech, dumb citizens would have to get all their news from NPR, whose job is to ensure we don’t see or hear anything that might disturb our carefully collated thoughts.

That’s all well and good, but this laughable paragraph exposed NPR’s moronic manipulation:

There's no evidence the federal government is withholding aid from affected
states. The Republican governors of South Carolina and Georgia have praised
the federal government's support.

The old “no evidence” gag! In other words, NPR isn’t denying the federal government is withholding aid. They just saying you can’t prove it.

NPR’s claim was a classic example of the argument from ignorance fallacy, ingloriously known as an argumentum ad ignorantiam. The statement, "there's no evidence the federal government is withholding aid," implies that the lack of evidence proves it is not happening. But just because there is no evidence yet does not necessarily mean something isn't happening or couldn't happen.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

The biggest problem with NPR’s favorite logical fallacy is that it can swing both ways. NPR could have just as easily reported, “the federal government has offered no evidence it is providing aid to affected states.”

NPR can get its funding by selling magic crystals on its late night broadcasts.