WHO’S FACT CHECKING THE FACT CHECKERS?

Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, said, “Facts are ventriloquist’s dummies. Sitting on a wise man’s knee they may be made to utter words of wisdom; elsewhere, they say nothing, or talk nonsense, or indulge in sheer diabolism.” A number of “fact checkers” now exist that have spun themselves off, and in the image of, liberal and left-leaning Snopes, the self-alleged decider-for-the-public of what is true or false, what should or shouldn’t be accepted by the public as a fact, etc. Like Snopes, a lot, perhaps the majority, of what these “fact-checkers” have to say about the factuality of things is true—enough to give them credibility in the minds of the unwary, the suspecting, and those too lazy to do much by way of research or thinking for themselves. Suggestion: Check out the political leanings of Snope’s co-founders. Also notice that one of them has been exposed as, and has confessed to, mass acts of plagiarism (a form of lying).

The fact checkers can be really subtle in diverting their readers’ attention from, and casting doubt on, truth that is based on fact. For example one online “fact-checker” exposed a paraphrase of something Thomas Jefferson said that could be, and probably would be interpreted as an anti-liberal, anti-left, anti-Democrat Party statement. The paraphrase/quote of Jefferson they “exposed” was this: "If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."

The aim and hope of the above “exposure” obviously is that readers will stop right reading, believing that Jefferson never said any such thing. But, just in case a reader should do a little fact checking themselves and correctly suspect that the “fact-checker” has been a bit disingenuousness and deviousness inn his “exposure,” they included the following fine print, please-don’t-look-at-me disclaimer below their article:

“Comments: This quotation has never been found in Jefferson's papers in its above form, but it is most likely a paraphrase of Jefferson's statement in “Notes on the State of Virginia,” wherein he said: “Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now."

Either way you read it the Jefferson quotation and the paraphrase of it is a timely, cautionary warning from one of our Founding Fathers. But, it’s politically incorrect in the minds of liberal “fact- checkers,” and that’s why they want to cast doubt and discredit it if they can.

Ah, these fan-dangling, fibbing, foxy, fiddlers around with words “fact checkers.” Don’t take anything they say, especially of a political nature, at face value. President Ronald Reagan, when he said it, wasn’t the first person to say, “Trust, but verify.” Someone, at sometime has probably quoted him as saying “Trust, but be sure to verify.” But it means the same thing doesn’t it? And this is really good advice where the so-called, self-described “fact checkers” are concerned. (Please share this if you can).