3 different people giving testimony. Taken as one you could just dismiss it. Collectively I found the statements very convincing. Something is most certainly going on that is pretty weird to put it mildly...
"""Pang Cong asked the King of Wei whether he would hypothetically believe in one civilian's report that a tiger was roaming the markets in the capital city, to which the King replied no. Pang Cong asked what the King thought if two people reported the same thing, and the King said he would begin to wonder. Pang Cong then asked, "what if three people all claimed to have seen a tiger?" The King replied that he would believe in it. Pang Cong reminded the King that the notion of a live tiger in a crowded market was absurd, yet when repeated by numerous people, it seemed real."""
Having said that, I disagree with the conclusion. There are few areas where one can confidently dismiss something as absurd (perpetual motion comes to mind). Perhaps an enemy of the King has indeed released a tiger in the market, and then what? How many reports are needed before the King actually looks into the matter?
I agree with the deeper explanation that a person as powerful as Pang Cong would easily have three enemies willing to discredit him in front of the King, but I feel that dismissing something as "that cannot happen" is how (say) my local bureaucracy gets angry at me for registering late because my explanation (that the system is overloaded) is absurd and therefore a lie.
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3 different people giving testimony. Taken as one you could just dismiss it. Collectively I found the statements very convincing. Something is most certainly going on that is pretty weird to put it mildly...
"""Pang Cong asked the King of Wei whether he would hypothetically believe in one civilian's report that a tiger was roaming the markets in the capital city, to which the King replied no. Pang Cong asked what the King thought if two people reported the same thing, and the King said he would begin to wonder. Pang Cong then asked, "what if three people all claimed to have seen a tiger?" The King replied that he would believe in it. Pang Cong reminded the King that the notion of a live tiger in a crowded market was absurd, yet when repeated by numerous people, it seemed real."""
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_men_make_a_tiger
Cool proverb, I was not aware of it.
Having said that, I disagree with the conclusion. There are few areas where one can confidently dismiss something as absurd (perpetual motion comes to mind). Perhaps an enemy of the King has indeed released a tiger in the market, and then what? How many reports are needed before the King actually looks into the matter?
I agree with the deeper explanation that a person as powerful as Pang Cong would easily have three enemies willing to discredit him in front of the King, but I feel that dismissing something as "that cannot happen" is how (say) my local bureaucracy gets angry at me for registering late because my explanation (that the system is overloaded) is absurd and therefore a lie.
There are 1.3 million active military personnel in the United States.