Gino Piroli – 4/18/05

This page was last updated on April 18, 2005.

Honor roll rekindles memories; Gino Piroli; Beaver County Times; April 18, 2005.

The column mostly covers the title’s subject, but it did mention my critiques of Mr. Piroli’s columns.

Below is a critique of the relevant portion of the subject column.

“I receive many letters, but with my outdated, inaccurate filing system, I sometimes lose track of them. It’s usually when I try to seriously file items that I lose touch with them.

“And the letters are not always friendly.

“One of my sternest critics is Robin Cox of Center Township, but I appreciate his letters because he argues the issues and doesn’t make personal attacks. I haven’t changed my opinions, but being informed and current certainly helps in the search for the truth.”

[RWC] Even though he acknowledges I don’t get into personal attacks, I still get a kick out of Mr. Piroli’s obsession with personal attacks. I discussed this trait a bit in my critique of his January 24^th column. Mr. Piroli appears to believe he “argues the issues.” Read Mr. Piroli’s columns and make up your own mind.

I don’t know if Mr. Piroli will consider this a personal attack or not, but nothing I’ve read in his opinion-oriented columns suggests he’s on anything close to a “search for the truth.” I believe it’s fair to say he’s on a search for commentary/opinion that supports his economic, political, and social positions. As hard as it may be for some folks – whether conservative or liberal – to believe, citing opinion or political party talking points doesn’t qualify as citing fact or truth.

For example, in my critique of his April 4^th column, I pointed out a claim Mr. Piroli made about the terror level in 2004 appeared to conflict with the facts. I sent Mr. Piroli an e-mail note citing this apparent error – and the source of my information – and asked him to point me to where he got his information. I still have received no reply. If Mr. Piroli were truly on a “search for the truth,” he would be more careful when he presents “facts” and would correct “facts” shown to be in error.

There are a lot of good quotes about facts, and here are a couple of them.

· “Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong.” – Dr. Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732. According to The Quotations Page web site, Dr. Fuller (1654 – 1734) was a British physician.

· “We can have facts without thinking but we cannot have thinking without facts.” – John Dewey. According to The Quotations Page web site, Mr. Dewey (1859 - 1952) was a “US educator, Pragmatist philosopher, & psychologist.”

Everyone has a right to his opinion; no one who wants to be considered credible has the right to make up “facts.”