Tuesday, February 28, 2017

First it was fake news...

Now it's fake facts... 

So even as the country becomes less and less trustful of the media, the media portraits themselves more and more as the country's guideline to truth and justice. The glaring irony of the latest NT Times advertising regarding "truth" is astounding. It would be a little like the City of Las Vegas running an advertising campaign on the concept of "restraint" or perhaps the Kardashian clan running an advertising campaign on the concept of "privacy".

But the media has now taken things one step further. It's no longer enough for them to be act as if they are the arbitrators of what opinions are right and which are wrong, they quite literally believe that they now have similar authority to deems what is and is not a fact. Strangely whether or not an obvious statement can be ascertained true or false is no longer the accepted means to determine what is and is not a fact. Apparently the difference between fact and fiction is now a nuanced one that only a media actor can judge. Furthermore, it would seem the credentials for being an authority on fact vs fiction is the actions of purchasing a domain name with the word "fact" in it, and then starting a website that "checks" things.

Let me give you a couple of examples of fact checking that has nothing to do with "facts".

First, Donald Trump stood at the podium and told everyone that his approval rating was 55% according to the most recent Rasmussen poll and it was going up. A quick check of the numbers, and it held true that Donald Trump was at 55% and that 55% was higher than previous numbers.

two plus two equals four

Secondly, Donald Trump stated that the national debt had declined 12 billion dollars over the first month of his Presidency, whereas the national debt went up by 200 billion over the same time period eight years ago. Again, these are numbers gathered by objective sources and the numbers were stated accurately by the President.

two plus two equals four

Neither the actual 55% approval rating or the 12 billion dollar number could be disputed. Yet, in both cases the new arbitrators of "fact" declared these facts to be less than factual. In the case of the debt, one fact checker rated the claim "mostly false" even as he conceded it was 100% accurate.

two plus two equals four? Well maybe not.

Now, it's a given that someone can misuse a fact, to make a larger argument. I could make the claim that two plus two equals four and therefore my coldheartedtruth blog is more popular than Donald Trump's twitter site. Obviously two plus two being equal to four has no bearing on whether or not my blog is more popular than Donald Trump's twitter feed. In this case my conclusion is wrong, even as the fact I used to argue it is factually correct. But would anyone suggest that two plus two equals four is "mostly false" simply because I used it as part of a broader argument that wasn't true?

But here is the rub, what happens when a fact is "stated" by a politician such as Donald Trump that seems to run counter to conventional media narrative about the world in general? The Rasmussen poll runs counter to the media narrative that Trump is historically unpopular. Similarly, the national debt numbers count counter to the media narrative that Trump's first month as a President has been a resounding disaster.

Apparently, the new media definition of a  "fact" must now face the added scrutiny of not running counter to a particular media narrative. The claim that there is a Rasmussen poll showing Trump at 55%  cannot be declared "true" (even if it is) because with that claim comes an unstated implication of something that the fact checker deems to not be true. Similarly the claim that the national debt went down by 12 billion dollars while eight years ago it went up 200 billions dollars... cannot be declared "true" (even if it is) because it implies something that the fact checker in question does not agree with.

The more the fact checker vigorously disagrees with the implication the fact suggests, the fact lower rating the checker will provide. This leads to declaring the 100% accurate claims about the debt to be rated "mostly false". Why? Because the fact itself implies that Trump bested Obama on that particular front. Certainly the media cannot stand for anything like that.

Amazingly they cannot understand why people no longer trust them?

21 comments:

KD, The Print Media Lost This Election w/HillBilly said...

Just For the Record:


Newspapers across the USA and Why they are pissed off today, they lost, yes, they were all in (almost) for Hillary Clinton and they both lost.

Newspapers and their Endorsements
Hillary Clinton = 57
Donald Trump = 6

Myballs said...

And now fake scandal. After eight years of seeing obama with his shoes on the desk and coffee table in the oval office, now kellyann having her shoes on the sofa is a big deal for the left.

Is it any wonder why they're so mistrusted?

Commonsense said...

They've lost their collective minds. (If they ever had them to begin with.)

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

Your ability to justify the unacceptable behavior is incredible.

Trumpism©

KD, Yuge win for land owners said...

Balls, the Clinton-losers-press had to do something, notice in that picture the number of African Americans Trump the Racist was meeting with?

This is a HOT issue with me, and My President did something about it. The water on my land and under it is mine, I have 100 % mineral rights. Obama attempted by executive fiat to take those rights from me, Trump just signed an EO that restores those property rights to the me, Thanks Mr. President , you rock.

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

After meeting with President Trump on Thursday, Dow CEO Andrew Liveris called this “the most pro-business administration since the Founding Fathers.” The next day, Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference that he would transform the GOP into the “party of the American Worker.”

Can Trump’s GOP be both the party of business and of workers? In theory, the answer is yes—that is the ultimate promise of capitalism. And Trump has already achieved an impressive move in that direction. Using the prospect of tax and regulatory relief and the powers of his Twitter bully pulpit, he has convinced American businesses to shift their focus to creating jobs at home, rather than outsourcing them overseas.

But now comes the hard part. Repealing the Affordable Care Act threatens to impose considerable pain on the working class, who stand to lose their new health benefits. That’s the reason Republicans now face protests at town hall meetings.

And tax reform will be even more difficult. The President has promised to cut taxes for both business and the middle class—huzzahs all around. But how will he pay for that largesse? The New York Times highlighted the difficulties in a front page piece Saturday.

This is just one of the analysis of the projected costs of the Trump tax "reforms".

The bottom line analysis is that if it was passed "it won't pass" that the deficit will be increased to approximately Ten Trillion dollars over ten years. It's starting to look like the Republican's conservative economic side, is dead. They have projected that the tax cuts will pay for themselves, because the economy will improve so much, that the tax would lead to economic growth sufficiently to pay down the deficit. In the Reagan era, were called "trickle down" economics. The Trump policy will increase the deficit dramatically. Ten Trillion is far from balanced. It didn't work then, and according to the Congressional Budget Office, that is under control of the Republican party, it won't now.

http://www.mygovcost.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/CBO_Budget_Economic_Outlook_2017_to_2027_Figure_1.jpg

http://www.mygovcost.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/CBO_Budget_Economic_Outlook_2017_to_2027_Figure_1_8.jpg

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

You find "fake" news by Obama unacceptable. With The Magic (R) gets a pass.

Loretta said...

Spam by the drunkard.

Every thread.

Spammed.

C.H. Truth said...

Roger doesn't appear to have an argument here about the thread. In the past several posts I have written about:

Fact checking
Oscar mess up
The actions of the left
Polling on Transgenderism
Who is getting press access to Trump's press conferences
Media dishonesty
Town Hall protests
Viral video
Obamacare
Sanctuary Cities
Crime rate among immigrants
Ivanka perfume top seller on Amazon
RNC record month of fundraising
Swedish refugee issues
Nato countries expanding military
The falling off of protest numbers
Criticizing the press
President day open thread
Democrats wrong political strategy
Milo Yiannopoulos
Size of victory
Trump Press conference

____


Nearly every post on the legacy blog has the same subject. An attack on Trump. No matter what subject I write about. Roger goes on the thread and attacks Trump. He sends me facebook messages... attacking Trump.

Roger, should understand two things:

1) What addiction looks like. He appears addicted to attacking Donald Trump. It's uncontrollable for him. He simply cannot stop, or even allow another subject of conversation. In "every" topic, in ever thread, he attempts to change the subject to being about how horrible Trump is.

2) Despite the fact that my blog posts vary and don't repeat themselves. Both by design and because quite frankly there are more than enough subjects to keep us all busy, without having to repeat the same subject over and over... Roger accuses "me" of having some sort of obsession or syndrome. This is pure transference. Everyone can see that the obsession and the derangement syndrome is controlling Roger's every action here. Everyone, of course... except Roger himself.

KD, Business, Unions, None Unions - Workers, Coming together to make America Great Again said...

The board Economic and Financial Retard:

Can Trump’s GOP be both the party of business and of workers?"



Answer: Yes

See how it is done HB, a question is asked and answered, you might want to give it a go sometime.

KD said...

Ten Trillion dollars over ten years" That is one Hell of a cut in the growth of Debt , from the mess Obama left of 14 Trillion in just 8 years.

HB, did you read the cunt-n-paste before posting it?




Oh, heads up it is going to rain.

opie said...

left of 14 Trillion in just 8 years

Thanx to the busch recession and 2 wars......

Loretta said...

"So even as the country becomes less and less trustful of the media, the media portraits themselves more and more as the country's guideline to truth and justice"

Trump needs to be more precise. He should know by now, the left-wing activists aka the press isn't going to report anything in context.

He needs to slow it down and explain exactly what he's saying.

KD, Unions and CEO's loving them some Donald said...

It is like the 8 Lost Years had Zero president also.

I for one wonder why the left is like summer lightening, now they are so concerned about the National Debt.

I love the opium meme, "W" Forced Obama to suck.

Ok , I agree Opium, Obama sucked.

KD, Hillary will never be President , Oh Yeah said...

Any bets on which asshole Democrat shows the most slip tonight?

There is a bucket of pussies to pick from, I don't think Cuckhold Schummer has stop bleeding yet, from the last time President Trump bloodied his nose, so she is out, MaxiPad Waters is a good Bet, or will they leave this to the Illegals or Merline Streep to do the hatchette job?

Hell the way the Clintonian Press has been misbehaving one of them might act out.

Best to have the mop and bucket ready for all the little minded liberals heads that are going to explode as he Cuts the fuck out of the bloated do nothing EPA.

Commonsense said...

The story of the bias and leftist media is tale of two pictures:

1. A picture of Kellyanne Conway with her knees on an oval office sofa. Generated all sorts of silly outrage from the media.

2. A picture of a vet doubled over in pain waiting for medical services in a VA clinic. Crickets from the media.

There's no making peace with them. And I think Trump knows that it's a waste of time to try.

Coldheartedtruth Teller said...

Speaking of hypocrisy
Yeah Trump: or Democrats SUCK.


Donald Trump to speak to congress!
First it was fake news...
Being pushed, not pulled towards Trump...
No support. But minority continues to protest...
Is defying conventional wisdom an assault on the constitution?
Classic example of media dishonesty?
Should GOP worry about Town Hall Protests?
What did you see? "Non Yeah Trump'
Reality vs Liberal Mindset
Eighty Percent Agree with the President on Sanctuary cities
Poll: Americans overwhelmingly oppose sanctuary cities
BlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Is there lower rates of crime among immigrants?
BlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Retailers remove Trump line due to lack of sales?
RNC has record month of fundraising...
BlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Sweden - We don't have a problem with refugees?
NATO falls in line
Hundreds of thousands
Tens of thousands
Thousands
Hundreds Protest

I could easily post over 4,000 characters if I gave a Damn.

They all are either YEAH TRUMP OR DEMOCRATS SUCK

caliphate4vr said...

Yeah or yay, genius???

Loretta said...

Oh for chrissakes, of course you give a damn, drunkard.

You wouldn't spam every damn thread if you didn't.

PNC said...

When all the other polls put you in the 40s, claiming you have a 55% approval rating is dishonest.

When the national debt goes through the small, fraction-of-a-percent variations that regularly happen and have nothing to do with your policies or the overall trajectory of the debt, trying to take credit for it is dishonest.

When you misrepresent what the facts mean, when you misrepresent their context, you're being dishonest.

Forget about "fact checking." The real concern should be HONESTY CHECKING.

Anonymous said...

Roger goes on the thread and attacks Trump. He sends me facebook messages... attacking Trump.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

well, i might be inclined to ask why you unblocked the dumb fuck on facebook in the first place.

just sayin'...