About the Heartland Institute...
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| mvermeer May 20, 2006 4:11 AM EDT |
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heartland_Institu... No surprise there. Is it correct to apply the label "think tank" to an organization that clearly has nothing to do with either executing or encouraging the practice of thinking for oneself? |
| dcparris May 20, 2006 5:04 AM EDT |
> Is it correct to apply the label "think tank" to an organization that clearly has nothing to do with either executing or encouraging the practice of thinking for oneself? Interestingly, the term "drink tank" came to my mind - I'm not sure I want any of whatever they've been drinking. And thanks for the link. I ran across a link to SourceWatch, but it referenced another institute (AdTI), and I didn't have time to check further for Heartland. |
| mvermeer May 20, 2006 5:45 AM EDT |
"Spin tank"? BTW don't bother trying to refute them; expose them instead. People don't care whether facts are true or false -- that's just our professional deformation --, but they love them to be juicy ;-) |
| dinotrac May 20, 2006 6:06 AM EDT |
Martin - Yes, with an asterisk. I agree that there is not point in refuting these spin tanks per se. Better simply to expose them, but it's also good to provide useful alternative information. That is not the same as a refutation. A refutation lets the other party take control of the conversation and, worse, lets them define which points are important. Unless you are real damned sure that other readers/listeners/etc will consider those points so important they must be addressed, better to deal with your alternative story and the points you want people to consider. |
| grouch May 20, 2006 1:00 PM EDT |
dinotrac: What you say makes very good sense for a debate, a courtroom or a political campaign. Those have limited participants. A point-by-point refutation of any particular output of such a "spin tank" by any particular community member has little danger of putting control into the hands of that spin tank. This is because there will likely be multiple responses to that output, at multiple levels. Look back at what happened with Ken Brown's attempt to claim that Linux is a derivative of Minix. Just pop this into a Google search: Ken Brown Linux. Three very common words, but what will pop out is an illustration of a distributed rebuttal. |
| dinotrac May 20, 2006 1:17 PM EDT |
grouch: Different strokes for different folks, I guess. The biggest problem with a direct rebuttal, like Tannenbaum's, is getting the reader to the end. But, what the hey -- those who are already invested in the issue will follow it all the way through, nothing wrong with that. |
| GnuGuy May 20, 2006 6:37 PM EDT |
I struggled to read this sham of a report. Clearly the name Heartland is meant to imply all that is good and wholesome and when you see an 'institute' with a name like that, well... the more I read of the article, the more it struck me that this operation has 'special interest group for hire' stamped all over it. Vaguely reminiscent of m$'s 'Get the Facts' trash. Maybe these guys are actually tied back to billy and monkey boy through some politician or lobby operation. Good job, Don! You nailed them on every one of their twisted points. |
| NoDough May 22, 2006 5:18 AM EDT |
>Clearly the name Heartland is meant to imply all that is good and wholesome and when you see an 'institute' with a name like that, well... Actually, the states making up the geographic center of the US (aka: the midwest) have long been know as the heartland. There are thousands of businesses incorporating the word 'heartland' into their names. There's plenty of FUD coming from this group and we should concentrate on debunking it. There's no need to cast aspersions that cannot be proven. |
| dcparris May 22, 2006 5:45 AM EDT |
> Actually, the states making up the geographic center of the US (aka: the midwest) That was my take on it. They're based in Chicago, so it fits. There is also the Pacific Research Institute, which I believe is located in Washington state. |
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