'Everybody knows that' is no substitute for good, hard facts

I am usually fairly easy to get along with. I accept most things, even dumb things, without getting my dander up. But, when presented with unsupported claims based on widespread rumors, I have been known to lose my patience.

I was venting the other day to a friend of mine who was, is, and always will be a woman’s rights activist. The subject was a political ad that claimed women only make 76 percent of what men make for identical work. I questioned the claim as either a gross misrepresentation of partial data or an example of complete bull.

She argued that the assertion was true, and she neede...