More than ever, we live in a world where everyone creates their own "truth". The internet has led to an explosion of "fact" sites with "experts" you can use to back up whatever worldview you happen to enjoy. The most devious ones post half-truths like graphs, or testimonials, or other real data, only manipulated to show what they want.
Then you get the kind of goof who acknowledges that this is happening, but their response is just as much of a cop-out, stuff like "I guess it's entirely subjective then." or "Well the truth must be somewhere in the middle."
Ask for sources. Check the sources. Always think about the writer's motivations (what's that old saying? "Follow the women and the money"?). Don't accept everything, but don't dismiss everything either. If that all sounds difficult, it's because it is. Facts are hard work and finding the truth is even harder.
Then you get the kind of goof who acknowledges that this is happening, but their response is just as much of a cop-out, stuff like "I guess it's entirely subjective then." or "Well the truth must be somewhere in the middle."
Ask for sources. Check the sources. Always think about the writer's motivations (what's that old saying? "Follow the women and the money"?). Don't accept everything, but don't dismiss everything either. If that all sounds difficult, it's because it is. Facts are hard work and finding the truth is even harder.
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