Is he much worse than CSI? I mean I don't trust both, they have right details (like some study proving one thing, or name of disease), but overall miss the big picture.
Also it seems that he sometimes hits a mark. I remember his article on criminal Profilers being mostly correct as far as I could tell.
Anyone who trust a journalist unconditionally and blindly is a fool. They are paid to pique your interest and entertain you, not find out the truth (most people don't like the truth, I definitely wouldn't like all the truth about me to come into light). Just like someone that thinks that most crime TV series depict real life.
People who accept CSI confuse fantasy and reality. People who accept Gladwell confuse a contrived reality with a real one. I think the risk posed by the latter category is greater than the former, because the latter are more difficult to separate from their superficial grasp of reality.
There is a disturbing number of jurors who won't convict the guilty because the evidence isn't as blindingly solid as CSI makes it seem necessary, or dismiss blindingly solid evidence because they expect some wildly implausible CSI-like theory is likely the truth.
Umm, isn't there a CSI effect, as in judges changed their sentences, because there wasn't enough certainity in the proofs provided by real forensic experts?
Isn't that bigger impact than anything Gladwell's stories had on policies?
CSI is pretty bad. WOrse than Gladwell. If you have been following how the Massachusetts crime lab screwed up thousands of investigations, you know CSI is putting an unrealistically competent face on a topic about which people should be very skeptical. Gladwell isn't as tendentious and propagandistic.
The problem is that Gladwell doesn't label himself a journalist or amateur - he speaks with a voice of authority about things he is not an authority on.
Also it seems that he sometimes hits a mark. I remember his article on criminal Profilers being mostly correct as far as I could tell.
Anyone who trust a journalist unconditionally and blindly is a fool. They are paid to pique your interest and entertain you, not find out the truth (most people don't like the truth, I definitely wouldn't like all the truth about me to come into light). Just like someone that thinks that most crime TV series depict real life.