K, coach...this was my response to barfo:
"So, living thousands of miles away necessarily means I'd have absolutely no knowledge of the goings on in Portland and Oregon as a whole. Now that truly would be pathetic."
You seem to be confusing issues here. No where has anyone said you'd have NO knowledge, just that you don't know firsthand, and are just repeating what you've heard. It's called the telephone game.
How would you feel passed on an opinion I have about the state of Tennessee, based on the fact I have relatives there who, for the most part, already share my opinion of how things are run? (There's that pesky confirmation bias again).
i.e., "All of my relatives in Memphis told me that the Mayor of Nashville is a total joke! And I agree."
And then when pressed for reasons why I feel that way, I just repeat it "I have relatives there! so I know"
And then when I complain about someone being critical of me passing off incorrect (or inaccurate) information about the mayor (and can't back it up with anything other than "it's what I've been told"), they point out I haven't had firsthand knowledge of the situation (which is true, I don't have firsthand knowledge).
Wouldn't you then think "well, I *live* in Nashville, maybe I know more about what is happening than those people who don't?" Or would you think "well, that's firsthand knowledge, and while it doesn't jive with what I, a person who actually
lives there has experienced, nor does it match anything I've seen while driving through the city, I have to admit, they have firsthand knowledge of the situation"??
You were passing it off as though it was what you KNOW to be the case.
Like, right now, I KNOW it to be the case that there is a car outside of my house. Hey ABM, there's a crappy car outside of my house.
Your respond with "hey, there's a clunker car outside of julius' house! He told me!"
"What kind of car is it? Why is it crappy?"
"Well, my friend julius said it was a crappy car, so it's obviously a junker"
Little did you know, maybe I just don't like that variety of car? Or maybe i don't like my neighbor who is parking there illegally? I
know firsthand and can pass off that information as
firsthand. You can't. You at best have secondhand knowledge of the situation, and being several thousand miles away, doesn't really give you credibility.