Fact Check ... Please

Fact checking should become second nature in today's world

Why don’t people fact check the opinions, often presented as facts, that they read or hear on partisan news sources?  And yes, if they are thorough, they can fact check the fact checkers.  This is really an opportunity to discover which news sources are more biased than others.  A high school civics lesson?  And citizenship 101!  We must get use to fact checking in today’s social media world.  Otherwise, we drift apart and fail to reach each other with well-intended debate.  And, of course, wars of opinions masked as facts tend to make people “snarky.”  (Good word, but I don’t know where I got it from.  I’m implying that arguments over facts tends to give us an unpleasant edge.)

Perhaps there is more to this than I’m seeing.  Do we feel stronger and stand taller when we can claim (feel) certainty?  Fact checking is the beginning of a moderate approach to understanding.  Leave aside the possible “gotcha” moment it may engender.  On the whole it is a way of seeing probabilities.  In most instances we learn that the “fact” is half true, or true only in certain contexts, or as much  misleading as it is helpful.  It encourages humility (again if we can stop using it for “gotchas.)”

I always liked the quote, from former New York senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”  It is not that we can always agree, or that developing a command of good information is easy.  But we can avoid being too credulous in today’s partisan world.