About the Rumsfeld quote mentioned in the most recent top-level post:
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we don’t know.
Why is it that people mock Rumsfeld so incessantly for this? Whatever reason you might have not to like him, this is probably the most insightful thing any government official has said at a press conference. And yet he's ridiculed for it by the very same people that are emphasizing, or at least should be emphasizing, the imporance of the insight.
Heck, some people even thought it was clever to format it into a poem.
What gives? Is this just a case of "no good deed goes unpunished"?
ETA: In your answer, be sure to say, not just what's wrong with the quote or its context, but why people don't make that as their criticism instead of just saying, ha ha, the quote sure is funny.
I agree that it's a brilliant idea, and that's why I cited him. He does the best job of describing that particular idea that I know of, and I'm amazed, as you are, that he said it at a press conference. I vehemently disagree with his politics, but that doesn't make him stupid or incapable of brilliance.
If the tone of my post came across as mocking, that was not at all my intention.
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