Do “facts” exist anymore? Or are we all living in alternative realities, where we everyone has their own set of facts?
It sounds silly, but it’s all too real.
Just days after President Trump moved into the White House in 2017, top aide Kellyanne Conway kicked off the whole game. During a “Meet the Press” appearance, she was asked about the size of the crowd at the inauguration — yes, that was an actual news story — and she said then-press secretary Sean Spicer “gave alternative facts” to dispute claims that there was a paltry crowd.
In a fantastic twist you couldn’t have made up, “journalist” Dan Rather blasted Conway (yes, the guy who used “alternative facts” when he claimed former President George W. Bush never served in the Texas Air National Guard and got booted from his CBS News anchor chair).
It’s all gone downhill since then.
Now, “facts” have become fungible. Every day, both side cite “facts” — often diametrically opposed “facts” — to support their arguments. Fact-checkers swing into action, with liberal sites backing Democrats’ “facts” and conservative sites validating Republicans’ “facts.”
