title: donald trump rushed off stage in reno after possible assassination attempt
text: by now everyone has been reminded that the media is not infallible it is composed of very fallible human beings who make mistakes with the same regularity as all the rest of us i was recently reading a bit about something in statistics called galtons problem an observational dynamic named after its discoverer sir francis galton
  to state it very crudely galtons problem is a situation resulting when observers assume that certain things are separate and discrete when in fact they are not for example those who failed to predict donald trumps electoral victory assumed that social conditions in the united states were isolated from those of the rest of the world such people failed to notice the evidence of widespread public anger in many other countries most notably england italy france and hungary
  sir francis galton
  failure to take into consideration the big picture is still forgivable of course no one can be right all the time or even most of the time systems in the modern world suffer from too much input and data rather than too little but deliberate lying is quite another matter and it is undeniable that some mainstream media outlets have deliberately sought to conceal the truth on a variety of domestic and foreign issues rather than act as a check on governmental power the media has actually become an arm of government power enforcing doctrinal orthodoxy with a variety of carrots and sticks that have proven to be reasonably effective
  
  individual journalists can play significant roles in this process consider a favorite example of mine the case of famed baseball player ty cobb ive been an admirer of cobb for a very long time ever since reading his autobiography as a boy something never quite felt true about all those stories that other biographers would tell about him the worst of these was sports writer al stump whose biography of cobb has now been discredited as mostly fabrication
  stump was granted exclusive access to ty cobb in  and  for his biographical purposes cobb shared with him many intimate details of his life and career but instead of faithfully reproducing those recollections stump embellished slanted and outright fabricated numerous anecdotes designed to cast cobb in the worst possible light stump portrayed cobb as a southern racist cobb was from georgia a misogynist and even a murderer cobb was not alive at the time all these stories began to circulate and was unable to defend himself
  to add insult to injury stumps writings were used as the basis for a terrible  film called cobb which starred tommy lee jones the film is a tissue of lies and distortions that deserved toand didflop at the box office the real ty cobb was a complex driven and highly intelligent figure who knew how to court controversy when he had to but was actually a gentleman by the standards of the era readers interested in further reading should consult the wonderful biography by charles leerhsen entitled ty cobb a terrible beauty 
  a famous photo of cobb stealing third base
  to begin with cobb used brains rather than brawn to beat his opponents he made careful studies of all the top players of his day and crafted strategies designed to exploit their weaknesses for example when he learned that pitcher walter johnson hated hitting batters with pitches cobb would crowd the plate to force johnson to walk him he learned how to get inside the heads of his adversaries forcing them to lose their tempers when they did cobb would steal bases right under their noses he remains one of the few players in history who knew how to steal home base
  
  one legend about cobb that has persisted is that he was a violent brawler this is simply not true it is true that men of his era got into fistfights oftenit was part of a healthy masculine culture back thenbut he never gratuitously assaulted or struck anyone the few incidents that have been held out as examples of his misbehavior eg a fight with a black groundskeeper and assorted hotel brawls prove to be on closer inspection nothing more than the standard types of fights that physicallyminded men like him became entangled with nearly all ballplayers of his era engaged in them including babe ruth
  al stumps character assassination of cobb went even further painting him as an unreconstructed southern racist who had a grudge against blacks this is completely false cobb was actually one of the few early supporters of integration in the big leagues when asked his opinion about subject by the sporting news in  he said the negro has the right to compete in sports and who is to say he has not
  he had nothing but compliments for black athletes like willie mays and jackie robinson and players in the negro league whom cobb interacted with in the s confirm that there was no trace of prejudice in cobbs makeup cobb mentored younger players corresponded with fans with personalized letters and helped found a hospital and a college education fund
  cobb was certainly no angel but in hindsight he was nothing more than an aggressive daring man who played professional sports at a time when things were much less regulated than they are now cobb himself may even have allowed spurious tales about himself to circulate in order to court publicity but he had a limit and complete fairy tales he would not tolerate
  stumps lies have been so pervasive and persistent that the mythology surrounding cobb will take decades to undo if anything cobb was too trusting in letting a man like stump into his confidence cobb was so angry with stumps hatchet job that he was preparing to sue to prevent publication of stumps writings in  just before his death the terrible  film cobb only added more oil to the fire
  malicious journalism can do serious damage sometimes the damage comes from ignorance other times from deliberate peddling of falsehood the motives for lyingwhether coming from money fame or the desire to virtue signalcan always be found if one digs below the surface in the modern era the default rule must be to seek independent confirmation of news stories and to remember that journalists are subject to the same human emotions and weaknesses as all the rest of us
  read more  an examination of cult leader game