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Why would you form an opinion then gather information about what he did?

We don't always have detailed evidence, so its useful to be able to make predictions with less evidence. When we have more evidence, we can verify the accuracy of our predictions in order to make better predictions in the future. Admitting "I was wrong this time" is the first step in being less wrong next time.

"I wanted to believe that this was the jackboot of the government coming down on some completely innocent individual, but ..."

Why did you want to believe the government was doing something wrong?

In your zealousness to give someone I hard time for not doing appropriate diligence, I do believe you have replied to the wrong person.

You're right, I should have been more careful and I get the irony. The comment sounded like it was a defense by the parent and I made an assumption.

However I don't consider it giving someone a hard time. I think of it as calling out people who decrease the quality of the conversation. You could throw that accusation back at me for my mistake but it is just that, a mistake.

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