Good Social Skills = Better Political Knowledge?

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A lot of my friends who are into politics and activism use their personal relationships to make their points ie "all the Iraqis I know say..." "all the union members in my town think..." "Most of my Muslim friends believe..."

But to have this level of experience of talking to groups requires good social skills right? I mean to go to the political group in your hometown that the iraqi-born people all went to and talk to them about what they thought requires the confidence and social skill to have converstations, which some autistics don't have. Or even to just be a social, popular person who has many friends of different ethnic groups and feels comfortable enough with them to chat to them about big issues.

then again, they could join forums like this. I'm sure pretty much all the religious political and ethnic groups in the world have a selection of forums curious people can go to, to chat to them.

but those types of quotes I started with upset me. The idea that socially successful people who are good at building lots of friendships have more valid views?

I don't think those views are more valid. The use of anecdotal evidence is an effective debating technique, especially if you can pull of a good sob story like politicians tend to do. It's also a staple of infomercials - why? because if you lack actual data proving your point, the "well I know a guy" thing can convince people. Problem is - that those views tend to be skewed. Even if a person does know a bunch of Iraqis or union members and doesn't have an agenda, it is still too small a statistical sample and can be quite biased due to the fact that people tend to spend time with people who are similar or agreeable to them.

yeah, good point.

There is the possibility that they're just making it up. That they know that no one will be able to easily check such claims. And maybe it's not even a conscious lie, but rather that they feel like "most people who are X think Y..." when they've actually never asked around.

I agree. My ex girlfriend used to go on about how she was a great anti racist in the past and was "heavily involved" with the Islamic community and knew so much about Islam. Then one day we walked past a Sikh gurdwara and she said "see thats a nice muslim church i bet it is peaceful in there" or some such. It just goes to show how people can talk themself up sometimes but you shouldnt take it so seriously. I can't see how anyone could mistake a gurdwara for a mosque with the huge sword logo on the front, and I am enough of an ignoramus.

i do not care what people think of me. you have been popular and respected so it hurts you to imagine people seeing you make a mistake or have a flaw. i have been seen as crap and weird all my life so a bit of foolishness on a forum is nothing to me.

I did not think catapilars were mammals. I thought all insects were mammals.