THE PROBLEM WITH FACTS

So, we have the problem of out-of-context “facts.” That turns them into false facts because we don’t have the proper context for understanding them. Then there is the problem of leaving out critical conditions, factors, and variables that help contextual the fact. This speaks to what is left out and what they are not telling us.

Additionally, we have the problem of language. Here the media really messes up because they have lost the distinction between empirical descriptions and evaluations. Today they throw around evaluative words as modifiers without any concern for accuracy. A big one for many the mainstream channels is still to call the January 6 riot an “insurrection.” Yet on August 20, 2021 the FBI released documents declaring that there was no “insurrection” (see below).

What strikes me is the fact that if it were an insurrection, how come there were no guns among the rioters? How do you overthrow a government and its army without any guns? Further, why is it that all of the people who were hurt that day were Trump supporters? And why was the one person (a woman) who was killed (shot by the Capitol Police) also a Trump supporter? There’s no question that it was a stupid and terrible riot among many who were simply not thinking or using their heads and others who disturbed enough to want a riot and destruction. But an insurrection? Only with some pieces of lumber and a plastic shield?

When you use an emotionally-laden word like “insurrection,” you are implying a lot more than just a riot. Semantically loaded words reveal a person’s biases. We are now no longer dealing with facts, but opinions. And that’s fine, but call an opinion “an opinion” and don’t distort it into a false fact.

Source: WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.

"Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," said a former senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. "Then you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages."

FBI investigators did find that cells of protesters, including followers of the far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys groups, had aimed to break into the Capitol. But they found no evidence that the groups had serious plans about what to do if they made it inside, the sources said. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-w as-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20Aug%2020%20 %28Reuters%29%20-%20The%20FBI%20has,to%20four%20current%20and%20forme r%20law%20enforcement%20officials