Trust, Fact Checking & Journalism - Part 1

Framing the Real Problem

You’ve certainly heard about Meta’s plan to do away with fact-checking and move to the “community notes” system used on Twitter. That whole “free speech doctrine” that the right keeps pushing.

This is happening simultaneously with FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE depending on social media for “news” and eschewing traditional journalism.

The problem is much bigger than Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

First off, most people have no idea how to evaluate whether something presented as “fact” is actually true. They do not know how to fact check¹. They do not understand what a legitimate source is for a fact, versus what is just an opinion. It’s one of the reasons so many people fall prey to scams.

Next, and far more importantly, this desire to place “free speech” above “facts” is part of a much larger plan on the part of the incoming fascist regime². A segue to “Pravda”, which is Russian for “Truth”. This was the broadsheet newspaper that was THE source of “news” in the Soviet Union. While it was started in Russia in 1912 as a journal of arts, literature and social life, that changed after the 1917 Russian revolution. It was the voice of the Communist Party until Boris Yeltsin sold it in 1992. In 1917, the editorial board was taken over by Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev, and Matvei Muranov. The premier source of “news” in Russia, and then the Soviet Union, was the government. Personally, I don’t want the government determining what is fact, what is newsworthy, and most critically, what is reality.

Don’t get me wrong: any government has access to compile certain facts better than anyone else. For example, it was the governments of all the countries in the world that presented Covid infection and death numbers. The received the data from hospitals, care homes, and state and local health departments. Granted, their compilation was only as good as the data they received. But a national government (that is honest) has the resources to compile data from across a nation better than others.

BUT

When the government is in complete charge of “news”, we call that “propaganda”.

All fascist regimes endeavor to take over the media as one of their first steps. This is done to make sure that “the people” have no idea what is going on, other than what the government wants them to know.

I cannot state this strongly enough. When people watch Fox, or listen to the podcasts of people like Steve Bannon, they receive a skewed version of what is occurring, and they accept it as reality because it’s presented as “news”, while it is really propaganda.

As we move forward this year, it is urgently important that we, the people, can separate truth from fiction. It informs the actions we undertake.

For a government to take over the media, it was much easier historically, when sources were limited. When there were only newspapers, and then newspapers, magazines and radio, that was a limited number of outlets to control. Even in countries with a free press, there was a lot of collusion related to what went on in fascist countries. This article is an example of how the US press covered the rise of Mussolini and Hitler. We have already seen that type of appeasement on the part of the US press relative to the incoming regime.

It’s slightly harder now. WAIT. It SHOULD be slightly harder now because in addition to newspapers, magazines and TV, there are also “citizen journalists” along with social media. The movement away from truth on all Meta platforms, Twitter and TikTok is undertaken BECAUSE these platforms are being used as tools by the incoming regime to control the flow of valid information.

Look at what Elmo Muskrat did relative to the California fires. From Axios:

As flames tore through Pacific Palisades on Tuesday, X became a cesspool of misinformation and anti-DEI attacks targeting LA Mayor Karen Bass and LAFD chief Kristin Crowley, who is the first woman and LGBT person in the job.

**The truth became impossible to distill: Musk's vaunted Community Notes system was like a Band-Aid on a bullet hole, as reports of water shortages — some real, some fake — exploded into partisan blame games.

**Trump quickly exploited the crisis and accused Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) of refusing to sign "the water restoration declaration," which the governor's office dismissed as "pure fiction." With the fires raging and growing, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!" Musk quickly tweeted agreement.

**In a now-deleted tweet, Musk responded "True" to an Alex Jones post claiming the LA fires were "part of a globalist plot to wage economic warfare & deindustrialize the [United] States."

NONE OF THAT IS TRUE.

But how would you know that? Okay, you’d know, but how would the vast majority of people know?

The most onerous part of any approach to solving the “lies problem” is being able to have “trusted sources” who can separate the truth from the lies, and then to do everything possible to make sure that the most people as possible heed to those trusted sources.

To lots of folks, “trusted sources” include the Orange Menace and Elmo Muskrat, and the “experts” they endorse. That’s why they believe that Haitians are eating people’s pets, and that China will pay the tariffs, vaccines cause autism, and the nonsense about the LA fires.

If you’re trying to ferret this out for yourself, I offer the following advice: always go to the original sources.

Here’s an example: the SAVE Act has been reintroduced in the House by Chip Roy. If you read his press release, you might think this bill is a good idea. But if you read the bill itself, you’d see it is something different all together. And then, if you did some research, you’d find out that the provisions of the SAVE Act were enacted by Kansas in 2011, disenfranchised legitimate citizens, and were declared unconstitutional several years later. Source. Therefore, to actually understand the reality, you’d need to:

1. Know that the SAVE Act exists, and that it was reintroduced.

2. Know who Chip Roy is, what he stands for, and why he’s insane.

3. Know what the full SAVE Act intends to do, by reading the text.

4. Know that Kansas tried it before.

5. Read the judicial finding to understand where the process went off the rails.

I know what you’re thinking³.

1. I’ve heard of Chip Roy, but I can’t place all the things he’s been up to while in Congress, nor did I know about his relationships with John Cornyn, Rick Perry and Ted Cruz.

2. I have never read a bill in its entirety.

3. Hmmnn, Kansas, how would I know something like that?

4. I have never read a judicial finding. They’re too complicated.

5. How the hell does Jessica know about stuff like this?⁴

And that’s just one bill. As an aside, there is a high probability that the bill will pass the House and Senate and be signed with great fanfare by the Convicted Felon. Therefore, there are actions that individuals will need to take immediately, since there is no delay for enforcement after the law is enacted. Depending on what state you live in, you may need to prove that you are a citizen to be able to vote in 2025’s primaries. Do you have a valid passport? Real ID? A certified copy of your birth certificate?

If you are denied suffrage, and are a citizen, are you willing to be part of a statewide lawsuit? Do you know how to find out which law firm is heading the case for your state?

Are you willing to help others gather their needed documentation?

These are just some of the questions you’ll need to answer. But the point is, if you didn’t know the details related to the SAVE Act, it might just pass you by. For me, suffrage is a core issue, it may not be for you.

It’s really hard to keep up with everything that is happening in all arenas, and thus, what you likely need are “trusted sources” for each of your areas of interest, or you need to become a trusted source yourself.

Tomorrow, in Part 2, we’ll look at how to find trusted sources.

1. I am not trying to be callous, just that fact-checking is more than seeing what Snopes (or something similar) says. It means digging down.

2. This includes their enablers, appeasers and cohorts, like Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos and much of the rest of the billionaire class.

3. OK — not all of you, but at least some of you.

4. I read every bill I can. I keep files on people, places and things. This is one of my lanes. I stay in my lanes. I do not clutter my mind with things that matter to other people: I don’t know anyone’s phone number, I can’t name 5 sports teams, I don’t know anything about pop culture, I often forget to eat. Most importantly, I spend a couple hours a day collecting raw data on a variety of topics, finding concurring sources, and making determinations about what sorts of actions are possible. Then I write.