No, they're not affirming anything. They are stating that Shaw has a bias-and that's it. This merely confirms his familiarity with the crew of the Enterprise, and why he has such a great distrust of them.Confirmation bias is associated with selective memory... so its not an inaccurate statement on my part.
But, putting that aside, and given what we know transpired in Insurrection, Shaw was wrong. But Picard also never bothered to correct him on that 'little' inconsistency... so the writers are in a way giving a silent 'affirmation' that Shaw was correct (when in fact he wasn't).
The show doesn't need to tell the audience Shaw is wrong; the show is made for Star Trek fans, and no one else. The selected audience knows Shaw is wrong.
Really? I work in the schools and not many teens I talk know who Lee Harvey Oswald is.Don't be obtuse; fifty years later we remember Lee Harvey Oswald, we remember war heroes from the second world war, astronauts and presidents and generals and so on. Worf killed the leader of the second most powerful nation in the alpha/beta quadrant environment, and was/is a member of the ruling imperial house. He was central of every major aspect of imperial politics during several wars, indeed saving the empire. It's only been twenty years since that period, his image and activities would be central to any history of the period, even though he was just a middling to lower officer then brief ambassador.
I'm not being obtuse. I'm noting the passage of time and that not everyone knows every single person from a war or from another power. Worf is operating outside of both Federation and Klingon space so expecting people to know him is odd to me.
I'm not going to assume that everyone knows Worf, just like I don't assume everyone knows who Alvin York is. It's a risk to assume knowledge.