The Story:
Professor X presented his newly discovered concoction to his trustworthy apprentice. As the son of Professor X, my grandfather served as a witness to this important event. Professor X said to the apprentice, “This is a gem that will surely shine in the next generations to come”. My grandfather being aware of the secrecy that should be confined within our family and the successors of the apprentice recorded the event this way in his journal:
My father presented something important to Professor Y, his apprentice. He said to his apprentice, “This is a gem that will surely shine in the next generations to come”.
Around one hundred years after the death of my great grandfather, Professor X, he became very famous because of his achievements and philosophy. However, most of his descendants have bad reputation. The enterprise maintained by the successors of the apprentice has fallen into dismal credibility. My grandfather died thirty years ago, and he left his journal to my father. The contents of the journal made its way to the printed media accessible to anyone interested. Many found the journal entry above intriguing, and they came up with different theories about the “gem” being referred to by my great grandfather. In fact, sublime philosophical expositions came out about the “gem”, and many people accepted the sublime meaning of that word. In context, there is nothing philosophical in the “gem” being referred to by my great grandfather.
Somewhat related:
Sad to say, but many people jump to conclusions. In fact it is a common error to make conclusions on certain circumstances that are not fully understood. The highly opinionated ones are prone to make conclusions based on what they think about the matter. If they make an analysis based on their erroneous understanding, they will spread confusion. This is true if the person has built up a reputation of excellence in a particular field, which is enough to convince those that are not meticulous enough to analyze and understand the information that they receive.
I have read an article written by a graduate of a law school. He criticizes the approach of an institution with regards to a certain issue. This issue involves jargon unique to the institution itself. It so happens that a particular term is controversial enough that even people from different fields are familiar with it. In fact they are able to create their own understanding based on what they have heard from different sources such as printed media. This graduate from law school attempts to use the term against that institution despite the fact that he himself is not an expert with the matters pertaining to the usage; but since this person is highly opinionated, he has the tendency to assert his own understanding without being careful on how the institution uses the term. The result is a highly erroneous exposition driven by pride and prejudice. Many people may not be able to recognize this. In fact, the article is convincing enough in a sense that it is presented in a compelling manner – think about the skills learned from law school. Imagine the resulting confusion if the article is available in printed media accessible to a large portion of the population with little knowledge on the issue. This is trial by publicity.
