This is a thought exercise I want to include at the start of my blog. It is a building block hopefully to future discussions about various topics. We should be able to distinguish the difference between facts, truth, opinion and lies. Unfortunately information isn’t forced to be conveyed in some form of color coded format.
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
John Adams
Facts should be easy to identify. They are definable, provable, quantifiable or even measurable. 2+2=4 is a fact. Words are definable. y=mx+b is provable. A jar has 623 marbles inside are quantifiable. A ball has a circumference of 2 ft is measurable. You get the picture.
Truth is in the eye of the beholder.
Plato
Actually this quote has typically been interpreted as truth being synonymous with opinion. I have always thought of truth as more synonymous with fact, but I now have a more subtle view of truth. I think truths are different from facts and opinions. I think everyone has there own truth. I believe people interpret what they encounter through the prism or kaleidoscope of there own experiences and senses. Do the blind interpret a play differently than a person with vision? Does an abused mother have a different truth about domestic violence laws than abusers? I have recently realized two people standing and experiencing the same thing can walk away with a completely different recollection of the truth about what happened.
The simple truth is that everyone has an opinion. Everyone has the right to voice it, and they should if they want to.
George Clooney
I think everyone knows what an opinion is. Sometimes it is based in no facts what so ever. Sometimes an opinion (conjecture) is derived from an analysis of facts. Most of the time opinions are not provable. Honest debate is found in the opinion and truth (as I have defined it) zone.
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
Mark Twain
The only thing I will say about lies are, in my mind, intentional.
A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Mark Twain
Let’s get honest, social media sites are not designed to transmit facts. Truths, opinions and lies yes. Holding these sites to some fact checked standard of facts is absurd on its face. Anyone in search of facts or even truth that uses social media as a source need to review available sources for information. I don’t care if my niece posts that she saw a unicorn fart pixie dust in her room last night. Let’s not throw away the first amendment because the federal government wants to deflect for their failure to move the needle more on vaccinations. And let’s be clear, Facebook provides a social medium for people to say whatever crap pops into their head to friends and family or post whatever cat meme that makes them laugh. They are not killers and they are not killing people. Let’s step back from the vitriolic hyperbole President Biden and Ms. Psaki.
Random Thoughts 