Yes, the framing absolutely matters: it is entirely possible that the rumor I heard was false, and yet the dam is still structurally unsound. (That is, somebody playing up the situation for some reason or other even though they have no special knowledge of it.)
The reason I asked about the rumor and not the dam is that I have a personal connection to the rumor, but no personal connection to the dam. I am not sure, but I've always had the feeling that a personal connection to the thing asked about is essential: that is, the closer one is to the thing asked about, the more likely one is to get an accurate reading about it. So, say, someone who works at the dam will be more likely to get an accurate reading about it than someone who lives downstream of it, who would be able to get a more accurate reading about it than some random Chinese person, who would get a more accurate reading about it that some random person on the other side of the planet (which is what I am).
Now that you mention it, though, I have no explicit reason to believe this to be true, and I should follow up on that.
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Date: 2020-07-22 12:28 am (UTC)Yes, the framing absolutely matters: it is entirely possible that the rumor I heard was false, and yet the dam is still structurally unsound. (That is, somebody playing up the situation for some reason or other even though they have no special knowledge of it.)
The reason I asked about the rumor and not the dam is that I have a personal connection to the rumor, but no personal connection to the dam. I am not sure, but I've always had the feeling that a personal connection to the thing asked about is essential: that is, the closer one is to the thing asked about, the more likely one is to get an accurate reading about it. So, say, someone who works at the dam will be more likely to get an accurate reading about it than someone who lives downstream of it, who would be able to get a more accurate reading about it than some random Chinese person, who would get a more accurate reading about it that some random person on the other side of the planet (which is what I am).
Now that you mention it, though, I have no explicit reason to believe this to be true, and I should follow up on that.