In the 21st century it has become increasingly critical for every individual to continuously seek out the facts and readily identify them from false and/or misleading information, stories, narratives, and speech, regardless of the person groups or entities that propagate speech that is is predicated on lies. The challenge of accomplishing this goal has ramped up dramatically in the past several years as we are literally overwhelmed by a deluge of “fake-based writing” (whether in the form of memos, videos, social media, official documents, website content, or another number of other formats) – and specifically those that go the root of creating corrupt communications. I use the word corruption with intent – per Merriam Webster – a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct. Blatantly false (as in the opposite of true), incorrect, misleading and simply unsubstantiated statements made by a person or persons in positions of authority, leadership and power have supposedly left whole swaths of Americans’ numb to the truth – unable and unwilling to make the effort necessary to actively and consistently engage with the truth – this is, if I may say, poppycock.
Photo collage by Dan Cretu.
Please see this January 20m 2018 Washington Post article:”…one year after taking the oath of office, President Trump has made 2,140 false or misleading claims, according to The Fact Checker’s database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president. That’s an average of nearly 5.9 claims a day. We started this project as part of our coverage of the president’s first 100 days, largely because we could not possibly keep up with the pace and volume of the president’s misstatements. Readers demanded we keep it going for another year. The database has proved so useful — and even sparked the interest of academicians — that we now plan to keep it going for the rest of Trump’s presidency. Our interactive graphic, created with the help of Leslie Shapiro and Kaeti Hinck of The Post graphics department, displays a running list of every false or misleading statement made by Trump. We also catalogued the president’s many flip-flops, since those earn Upside-Down Pinocchios if a politician shifts position on an issue without acknowledging he or she did so. While the president is known to make outrageous claims on Twitter — and that was certainly a major source of his falsehoods — he made most of his false statements in unscripted remarks before reporters. Prepared speeches and interviews were other key sources of false claims. That’s because the president relies on talking points or assertions that he had made in the past — and continued to make, even though they had been fact-checked as wrong. This makes Trump somewhat unique among politicians. Many will drop a false claim after it has been deemed false. But Trump just repeats the same claim over and over, perhaps believing that repetition will make it ring truer…”