We judge of man's wisdom by his hope.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Obviously, a man's judgement cannot be better than the information on which he has based it. Give him the truth and he may still go wrong when he has the chance to be right, but give him no news or present him only with distorted and incomplete data, with ignorant, sloppy or biased reporting, with propaganda and deliberate falsehoods, and you destroy his whole reasoning processes, and make him something less than a man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Judgment is only as good as the information it's based on, and distorted information leads to poor reasoning.
This quote emphasizes the critical importance of accurate and complete information in forming sound judgments. It suggests that when a person lacks truthful information or is misled by biased or false reporting, their ability to reason effectively is severely compromised, diminishing their capacity to make informed decisions.
Themes
JudgmentInformationTruthReasoningMediaBias
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about media responsibility, this quote can emphasize the need for truthful reporting.
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