Are there “degrees of truth?” Some have heard be speak about this before but it is a very important question, especially in the Stacey Burns murder case..

In the last month (as of today, 11/13/15) I’ve found it necessary to once again try to figure this out. When someone says, “well, there is a degree of truth in that statement,” what exactly do they mean? Doesn’t logic tell us that there must, therefore, be a degree of untruth in it as well?

Here is what I am trying to reconcile. On October 13, 2015, a comment was made in response to a post of mine titled “A Favorite Quotation.” Here is the statement. “The case has been newly classified as a cold case.” In a more recent post, this same individual quotes a NH State Police detective as saying that Stacey Burns’ murder has been “recently reclassified as a cold case.”

How do we reconcile those statements with this one from an authoritative source? “It has not been moved into the cold case category, yet.” This statement was made on November 4.

So, does each of these contain a degree of truth? It seems as though neither allow for compromise. It either is or it isn’t. It either is a priority or it isn’t. It either matters or it doesn’t.

Am I missing something here?

Duke