{"id":16384,"date":"2017-01-26T12:48:30","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T17:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=16384"},"modified":"2017-01-26T12:48:30","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T17:48:30","slug":"politics-as-usual-those-are-the-facts-jack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-those-are-the-facts-jack\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Those are the facts, Jack!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins Mrakas
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know that primary school is a distant memory for many, many folks but the lessons learned in kindergarten should serve one well throughout one\u2019s life.
\nThey are foundational. Fundamental. Basic things like how to tie a shoelace, how to share your toys, understanding right and wrong, truth and lies. These are the types of lessons that are taught at a very young age and reinforced throughout one\u2019s life \u2013 in school, at home, in places of worship and interactions with other people.
\nA general set of precepts that civilized society understands and adheres to.
\nWell, let me rephrase that: precepts that society generally \u2013 or ideally? \u2013 adheres to.
\nAs we are seeing right now, unfortunately, I fear that the lessons learned at age 5 have faded from our collective memories. How else to explain the current state of affairs where up is down, black is white and a fact may be a fact only if it\u2019s not an alternate fact? When some folks feel no compunction at all to tell the truth and get darn right ornery when presented with facts that don\u2019t serve their version of reality?
\nI can\u2019t believe I have to say this, but there are facts folks. Things that are true. And there are things that are not true. That is reality. Again, this is something we learn when we are very young; that there are facts \u2013 generally accepted to be the truth \u2013 and there is fiction, which is generally accepted as being not the truth.
\nTo simplify it even further, we\u2019re taught that when something is demonstrably true \u2013 say, that the sky is blue (and please don\u2019t give me a lecture on light refraction\u2026). That is a fact.
\nAnd when something that is demonstrably false, say that chickens have eight legs, that is not true.
\nSo far so good.
\nI think everyone can agree at least conceptually that there are certain things – called facts – that are true. And that there are certain things that are not true.
\nBut what do you call things that are not true?
\nHere\u2019s where it gets tricky for some folks. If something isn\u2019t true, that means it isn\u2019t a fact. So, what do you call it? I guess it depends on who you are, where you are and what you are trying to say \u2013 or not say. They could be falsehoods or misstatements, misapprehensions or my favourite \u2013 \u201cmisspoke.\u201d
\nWhat\u2019s missing from that list? How about lies? Because for the most part, the purveyors of these \u201cmisstatements\u201d, these \u201cfalse statements\u201d are in fact flat out lying.
\nA five year old can see it, for heaven\u2019s sake.
\nSo, why are folks so afraid to say it?
\nYes, the word \u201clie\u201d is a fraught term. It implies intent. That you are knowingly saying something that isn\u2019t true. So, using that term seems to cause conniptions amongst the punditry.
\nI have no idea why. When someone says something that is clearly, demonstrably false, such that any reasonable person would know as much, then making such a statement is not misstating a fact, it is not \u201cmis-speaking,\u201d it is not even stating an alternate opinion. It is lying. Period.
\nThe fact that we are even having a debate about what to call a lie is, quite simply, astounding to me
\nBut, we\u2019re now in a universe designed by Kafka. Where we have facts and \u201calternate\u201d facts, not truth and lies. And lest you think this is all about Trump and his appalling talking heads who have parked their principles and common sense at the front door of their new offices, it is not.
\nThis penchant for stretching, exaggerating, misstating and out-and-out lying pervades public discourse at virtually every level, from national to local. Trump\u2019s team just does it on a grander scale.
\nPersonally, I think we\u2019re teetering on the edge of a cliff. Actually we\u2019re hanging onto the edge of that cliff by our fingernails.
\nWe\u2019re about to fall into the abyss of lies, where no one will believe anything a party leader says. Or worse, they\u2019ll believe everything their chosen party leader says regardless of what it is they\u2019re saying and believe that everything anyone else says is a lie.
\nWe need to pull back from that cliff. Or suffer the consequences.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins Mrakas I know that primary school is a distant memory for many, many folks but the lessons learned in kindergarten should serve one well throughout one\u2019s life. They are foundational. Fundamental. Basic things like how to tie a shoelace, how to share your toys, understanding right and wrong, truth and lies. These […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4gg","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 17:47:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}