Dat's a Fact!

Liberal Culture

Checking the Fact-Checkers Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Lately it seems it is becoming trickier and trickier to determine what is in fact, a fact? Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Lately it seems it is becoming trickier and trickier to determine what is in fact, a fact? There are many who wish to be the arbiters of what is and is not fact. A number of these self-appointed arbiters also want to be the supreme judge of what is truth. How is it that opinion was suddenly able to be fact-checked? Are we to accept their pronouncements blindly? Or should we question everything with boldness as Thomas Jefferson suggested. An argument for questioning “truths” put forth by the self-proclaimed justices of truth is evidenced by a recent proclamation made by the Associated Press Fact Checker after actress Meryl Streep pontificated about the incoming president and his administration at the Golden Globes Award Ceremony on January 8, 2017. Ms. Streep’s words prompted the president-elect to tweet that “Meryl Streep was over-rated”, which prompted a “fact check” of the tweet by the self-appointed determiners of what is and is not factual, in this case the AP Fact Checker. Well, thankfully it turns out the pronouncement made by the AP Fact Checker was met with skepticism. How is it that opinion was suddenly able to be fact-checked?  This bold question was answered when the AP did remove “Fact Check,” from its headline, admitting opinion should not be fact-checked. [FULL]   skoonj