Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Information isn't what it used to be

Oh, hello, gentle reader. I didn't see you standing there. Please, come in, sit, make yourself comfortable. It's been a while, I know.

Since my last post, the B-21 has gotten a name, the Raider, which narrowly beat out Nukey McMeltface, I'm told. The 2016 presidential election is well under way. And the Blog Family has grown by one.

Look at that paragraph. The three items there are not equal in value--at least not to me!--but are presented as though they do.

And this is what has been driving me nuts about 2016. I'm not the first person to spill ink, real or electronic, on this and I'm confident I won't be the last. But the fact that statements are more and more being treated as equally true regardless of source is a real, creeping problem with public discourse. "I read it on Twitter" should never have the same weight as "I read it in the Wall Street Journal" and certainly not "I saw it myself." Opinions aren't facts. Innuendo isn't argument.

This isn't limited to fallible humans. Today, a Google search will get you this result:

No, Google. Bad Google.

Happily, a Snopes link is among the top results, but c'mon, Google... that's not news. It's, put charitably, rumor and speculation. (Russia Today is a propaganda arm of the Russian government; True Pundit is a conspiracy website.) A more cynical person might call it outright disinformation. The most cynical person might say this is a result of how we are all subtly being encouraged to only treat as "fact" things that align with our ideology.

So look. All I'm saying is that all information is not created equally. Fact is not subjective. There is such a thing as getting it right, and the *best* sources of information will admit their mistakes.


But please. Don't just take my word for it.