Re: US firms 'tried to lie' over GM crops, says EU

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Jim Webster" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>"Bruce Sinclair" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in
>message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Jim Webster"
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> >"Bruce Sinclair" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in
>> >message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> >> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Jim Webster"
>> ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> >> ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>> >> >news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> >> >> US firms 'tried to lie' over GM crops, says EU
>> >> >they either lied, or they didn't. If you try to lie, it means you
>> >> >inadvertently tell the truth by accident
>> >>
>> >> .. or were caught ? ... watergate anyone ? :)
>> >
>> >but no one has actually shown what the lies were, can anyone provide
>quotes
>> >from what the companies said, not what green organisations say that they
>> >said?
>> I make no staement as to whether there were lies or no. Surely the
>> proof of lies involves getting caught telling porkies ?
>
>did the teachers who taught my mother that the atom was the smallest thing
>that existed and was indivisible lie? Remember she was at school in the late
>30s early 40s

Depends ... did they know that what they said was wrong when they 
said it ? 
In my opinion the chem teachers that I had that had a different answer 
to the "structure of matter" every year certainly lied. I would have 
accepted something like ... "this is wrong but useful". Instead, we 
had "this is the truth" - then the next year ... "last years truth 
isn't right, here is the real truth". 
To me, lying implies a knowledge of the truth ... otherwise it's 
called "bullshitting" or similar ... and fool on us that believe that 
without question :)

The thing not being talked about of course is the old "plausible 
deniability" excuse ... where the (usually) marketing guy says things 
that are wrong (often technical things) without knowing they are 
wrong. The technical guys know, however ... but the company "gets off" 
the fibbing accusations using PD. 
Is that lying ? Technically probably not. Is that lying ion spirit ? 
.. I'd say probably.

Bruce



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It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to 
think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone´s fault. 
If it was Us, what did that make Me ? After all, I´m one of Us. I must be. 
I´ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No-one ever thinks 
of themselves as one of Them. We´re always one of Us. It´s Them that do 
the bad things.         <=> Terry Pratchett. Jingo.