Chapter 8 (unspun)

Chapter 8: Was Clarence Darrow a Creationist? discusses the idea that even though things we see to be crediable sometimes aren't. The only way that we can be sure of facts are to question them, track them and cross check them. This means that basically we cannot trust everything we see and it is vital that we question facts.
This topic in particular reminds me of the silly infomercials on television that are selling products that claim to be able to do amazing things when in reality, they're poorly crafted pieces of junk that don't and ever work. In particular, the "Sham Wow" claims it can wipe up and hold enough soda that could cause mold underneath carpet. The first time I saw this commerical, I thought wow this is a neat product and then I saw a video clip on a website that tested infomercial products and it turns out the Shamwow wasn't wow-worthy at all. The fact that these people de-bunked the product is an example of checking facts that aren't always credible.
The rules that unspun reveals are: You Can't Be Completely Certain, You Can't Be Certain Enough, Look for General Agreement Among Experts, Check Primary Sources, Know What Counts, Know Who's Talking, Seeing Necessarily Shouldn't Be Believing, Cross Check Everything That Matters, and Lastly: Be Skeptical but not Cynical.
These rules reveal that it is important to examine every fact and it is important to double check. It is also important to know who is talking and just because an idea seems credible, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is. And lastly, the idea of being skeptical is important without looking at the world through cynical and constantly negative eyes.
These are things that I find very valuable, not even just looking at propaganda but life in general as there are always going to be things that seem credible but they're really not.