Even after residents mastered technical vocabulary, officials continued to dismiss them

Evidence

I was not alone in having difficulty following officials’ answers to questions in LRC meetings. One LRC member, a chemistry professor at a major university, was one of the only people in town who was not afraid to confront officials. He did not have to worry about being considered a person who ineffectually ”spouted” with no knowledge base or power base; and he was usually able to follow the meeting’s proceedings. Still, most of his objections to the incinerator were political or logical; one did not need any special education to understand his frequent, ten-page critiques of state documents. In fact, his critiques offered an education, in making presuppositions clear, in logic and scientific method, in connecting politics and technology. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1439 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

As Valck wrote his friend: “If you think I paint a darker picture of the situation, that I exaggerate, I repeat that the situation is as bad as it can be and this is due to a policy of leniency pursued for years toward the planters… . Believe me, Levyssohn! I don’t see the situation blacker than it is.” And again, with reference to the Augean stables and his own distraught state: “Don’t think that I write in a moment of agitation. I am totally calm but utterly indignant. Everyday I see more muck that needs to be cleaned up.” — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1103 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Deploying technical jargon in public meetings functions as a silencing tactic against residents; Mastering technical vocabulary does not overcome official disregard; Technical credentials shield citizens from being dismissed as irrational spouters — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 1439 (+2 more)

Related

• Colonial officials resisted truth-tellers by dismissing them as agitated exaggerators (similarity 0.85)
• Technical credentials shield citizens from being dismissed as irrational spouters (similarity 0.81)
• Mastering technical vocabulary does not overcome official disregard (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Mastering technical vocabulary does not overcome official disregard #corroborates (1.00)
• Technical credentials shield citizens from being dismissed as irrational spouters #contradicts (0.92) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1439
• Colonial officials resisted truth-tellers by dismissing them as agitated exaggerators #expands (0.85) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1103
• Requiring technical facts to justify speech silences ordinary citizens entirely #expands (0.75) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 991