A quick review of the long and illustrious career of Facts reveals some of the world’s most cherished absolutes: Gravity makes things fall down; 2 + 2 = 4; the sky is blue.
But for many, Facts’ most memorable moments came in simple day-to-day realities, from a child’s certainty of its mother’s love to the comforting knowledge that a favorite television show would start promptly at 8 p.m.
Over the centuries, Facts became such a prevalent part of most people’s lives that Irish philosopher Edmund Burke once said: “Facts are to the mind what food is to the body.”
To the shock of most sentient beings, Facts died Wednesday, April 18, after a long battle for relevancy with the 24-hour news cycle, blogs and the Internet. Though few expected Facts to pull out of its years-long downward spiral, the official cause of death was from injuries suffered last week when Florida Republican Rep. Allen West steadfastly declared that as many as 81 of his fellow members of the U.S. House of Representatives are communists.
Facts held on for several days after that assault — brought on without a scrap of evidence or reason — before expiring peacefully at its home in a high school physics book. Facts was 2,372.
“It’s very depressing,” said Mary Poovey, a professor of English at New York University and author of “A History of the Modern Fact.” “I think the thing Americans ought to miss most about facts is the lack of agreement that there are facts. This means we will never reach consensus about anything. Tax policies, presidential candidates. We’ll never agree on anything.”
Facts was born in ancient Greece, the brainchild of famed philosopher Aristotle. Poovey said that in its youth, Facts was viewed as “universal principles that everybody agrees on” or “shared assumptions.”
But in the late 16th century, English philosopher and scientist Sir Francis Bacon took Facts under his wing and began to develop a new way of thinking.
“There was a shift of the word ‘fact’ to refer to empirical observations,” Poovey said.
Facts became concrete observations based on evidence. It was growing up.
Through the 19th and 20th centuries, Facts reached adulthood as the world underwent a shift toward proving things true through the principles of physics and mathematical modeling. There was respect for scientists as arbiters of the truth, and Facts itself reached the peak of its power.
But those halcyon days would not last.
People unable to understand how science works began to question Facts. And at the same time there was a rise in political partisanship and a growth in the number of media outlets that would disseminate information, rarely relying on feedback from Facts.
“There was an erosion of any kind of collective sense of what’s true or how you would go about verifying any truth claims,” Poovey said. “Opinion has become the new truth. And many people who already have opinions see in the ‘news’ an affirmation of the opinion they already had, and that confirms their opinion as fact.”
Though weakened, Facts managed to persevere through the last two decades, despite historic setbacks that included President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, the justification for President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and the debate over President Barack Obama’s American citizenship.
Facts was wounded repeatedly throughout the recent GOP primary campaign, near fatally when Michele Bachmann claimed a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease causes mental retardation.
But friends and relatives of Facts said Rep. West’s claim that dozens of Democratic politicians are communists was simply too much for the aging concept to overcome.
As the world mourned Wednesday, some were unwilling to believe Facts was actually gone.
Gary Alan Fine, the John Evans Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University, said: “Facts aren’t dead. If anything, there are too many of them out there. There has been a population explosion.”
Fine pointed to one of Facts’ greatest battles, the debate over global warming.
“There are all kinds of studies out there,” he said. “There is more than enough information to make any case you want to make. There may be a preponderance of evidence and there are communities that decide something is a fact, but there are enough facts that people who are opposed to that claim have their own facts to rely on.”
To some, Fine’s insistence on Facts’ survival may seem reminiscent of the belief that rock stars like Jim Morrison are still alive. “How do I know if Jim Morrison is dead?” Fine asked. “How do I know he’s dead except that somebody told me that?”
Poovey, however, who knew Facts as well as anyone, said Facts’ demise is undoubtedly factual.
“American society has lost confidence that there’s a single alternative,” she said. “Anybody can express an opinion on a blog or any other outlet and there’s no system of verification or double-checking, you just say whatever you want to and it gets magnified. It’s just kind of a bizarre world in which one person’s opinion counts as much as anybody else’s.”
Facts is survived by two brothers, Rumor and Innuendo, and a sister, Emphatic Assertion. Services are alleged to be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that mourners make a donation to their favorite super PAC.
• Huppke is a writer for the Chicago Tribune.
Comments (46)
Add commentAbsolutely true.
Requiescat in pace.
The truth resides...
On FoxNews.
And that's a fact.
OMG dust, I immediately
OMG dust, I immediately thought of you when I was slogging through this - I have to admit, I skipped a lot of it. Couldn't take the partisan, one-sided view but I got the gist of it. It parroted much of what you write - so atleast we know you've got the progressive talking points down!
What a load of garbage and too cute by half, huh?
Why didn't this dinosaur newspaperman just write that 'we've been one-upped in our game of journalism that we've been able to keep alive with our "facts" but now the public is on to us and we're dying a slow death'?
This one sentence illustrates progressive elitism at its height - "People unable to understand how science works began to question Facts."
Just call those that question the left's "facts" stupid and get it over with.
I am curious why the author didn't mention Obama and his "facts". He probably didn't know where to start!
Obama's facts?
Where is the mention of Obama's facts? Or do I see a slanted, fact missing article, written by a Barrack fan?
Calypso
We are on the same page and must have been posting at the same time!
yeeeehaw!!!!
kick up your heals and throw away your political ideals! Vote Republican!
does it matter
who is using facts if they are fabricated or just plain wrong? No!
Those who willing accept statements of politicians as completely factual and without any reason to be doubted will never take the time to determine how easily they are being played.
I find it amazing some times when I've heard a politician claim they never made a particular statement after a recorded statement of their comment is presented for their rebuttal. Yet many accept the politicians claim and willingly accept the recorded event as wrong.
Allen West as an example claims he never made the statement with regard to democrats being members of the communist party. You can chose to believe West did not make the statement and the recorded event was all made up. Or you can make an effort to actually determine the information and decide what is the truth.
You should have read this one Calypso---it applies to you
“American society has lost confidence that there’s a single alternative,” she said. “Anybody can express an opinion on a blog or any other outlet and there’s no system of verification or double-checking, you just say whatever you want to and it gets magnified. It’s just kind of a bizarre world in which one person’s opinion counts as much as anybody else’s.”
@islander - we call it
@islander - we call it vetting.
You right there, took the progressive side with West's comments. Have you listened to audio of West's entire comment? And I don't believe he has walked back his statement. He stands by it.
A good case in point of media spin is the editing and monkeying around with the 911 audio of Zimmermen's call.
Look what the so-called major networks did with that to influence the public and shape the agenda.
They got busted by the new media with facts and they've got lots of egg on their faces.
To be fair, a lot of people
To be fair, a lot of people (see Calypso above) really don't understand how science works (or lie about how science works--one of the two!), and use that position of ignorance to deny facts. This isn't some partisan hackery, this is something you can see pretty much every day in the news or in the comments section of THIS VERY WEBSITE.
@jamison - who said that? You
@jamison - who said that?
You know why the left is tied up in knots over "facts"? It's because they used to beable to put anything out there and have more than half the public believe it.
It happened in the newsrooms, in the classrooms and in the political arena.
Now there's competition with "facts".
So all the left can do is scream "liar". It's so juvenile.
And up pops the progressive
And up pops the progressive to make my point!
Oh, thank you p!
I'm sorry, Calypso, did you
I'm sorry, Calypso, did you have something of substance to add? Like, perhaps, facts?
@p - fact or fiction? I have
@p - fact or fiction? I have a Bachelor of Science degree?
B.S. degree
Likely from an non-accredited bible college or Liberty University.
If Calypso has a science
If Calypso has a science degree, I am truly horrified. This is a person/sentient machine who routinely claims opinion articles as fact, who denies evolution, who doesn't understand the difference between the lay definition of "theory" and a scientific theory, who confuses the field of climate science with the theory of climate change, who thinks homosexuality is a choice, who thinks one study proves his point (regardless of where it came from) but any study contradicting him is partisan hackery, and oh so much more.
He may have a B.S. degree, but it sure doesn't stand for "Bachelor of Science."
@jo - you're mean!@p -
@jo - you're mean!
@p - you're hopeless...
But speaking of Liberty University, did you see where Romney is giving the commencement speech? It's encouraging that the evangelicals are getting on board with him, regardless of his religion.
preponderance of facts......
also counts.
Latitude, I wonder if you watch any other media? I watch many, and frankly - Fox "news" has time, and time, and time, and time again been shown to be outright lying a good deal of the time, either by outright statement or innuendo. On a regular basis.
Case in point - more than a dozen Fox entertainers just a couple short years ago, on tape, saying unoquivically that the President has no impact or say on gas prices. Fast forward to the current presidency - same entertainers, saying of course the current President has control over gas prices.
FOX has a long and continuous history of changing their outrage based on the situation - come to think of it, they flip flop as much as Mitt Romney does.
Another example - January of 2011 - When Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen recently compared his political opponents to Nazis—Joseph Goebbels in particular—no media outlet was more outraged than Fox News. Most notably, host Megyn Kelly argued with her guest, Democratic strategist Richard Socarides, when he pointed out that none other than Fox News often makes those very same Nazi comparisons. But Jon Stewart on his show has news for Kelly: Socarides is right, and Stewart proved it.
"Finding people on Fox News making Nazi comparisons is too easy," he complained, after having no trouble whipping up clips from as far back as December 2005. So how about a challenge? He dredged up clips of someone making a Nazi comparison within 24 hours of Kelly's comment (Glenn Beck), someone making nearly the same Goebbels reference Cohen did (Bill O'Reilly in 2007), Roger Ailes making an explicit Nazi comparison, and the pièce de résistance: Someone making a Nazi reference ... on Kelly's own show.
Calypso's example is also valid, and of course any kind of factual distortion should be called out, and the perpetrators should apologize.
It's not just the destruction of facts - it's the number of cases per hour, and the inability to self-correct. The largest perpetuator of this problem of the major news networks is VERY clearly Fox. The apology section would require a LOT more airtime on FOX than any other channel. I've not ever seen FOX retract an innacurate statement (something that actually happens on other channels) or apologize for one.
Facts?
Communism: a political system in which all social and economic activity is controlled by a central government.
Come on...the number has to be higher than 81...
:-)
Calypso, FOX news, and self-correction
Statement:
4/24/2012
'I've never accused anyone of being "intolerant or elitist". That's liberal speak...'
Small sample:
10/20/2011
'About what I'd expect from this audience that has zero tolerance for opinions that don't walk the progressive walk'
7/11/2011
'And, mike, as you continue your ranting post, it's very evident that you are extremely intolerant.'
4/26/2012
'This one sentence illustrates progressive elitism at its height...'
2/21/2012
'Maybe it's that superior scientific elitism that you just can't get past - at least in your own mind.'
Fact:
Fact: By simply prefacing any statement with the word "Fact" or "Studies show.." you can sway at least half of your listeners to believe that your statement is true.
Reality is based on your
Reality is based on your perception. Everyones perception is different. We don't have to agree on anything as a society. We must actually work together for the greater good of humanity though. I am guilty of it, but when someone starts saying this is how it is and is unwilling to consider other opinions they are ultamitly killing the debate.
There are so many differing views, the only way to go forth with what is 'best' for everyone is to stop thinking anyone knows it all. Because no one does. Real intelligence is when a person looks at as many views with the most open mind they can muster and only then start to form personal opinions.
When all these people keep saying they're party is the best it just shows ignorance and arrogance. Stop putting yourself in a box. Think for yourself.
@Alaskastu: this is true when
@Alaskastu: this is true when it comes to matters of personal opinion or ideas that don't have a real life basis behind them, but it is not true of science or, to a lesser extent, philosophy. There are people who disagree that the world is round, but an intelligent person does not weigh both sides of the debate, he/she says, "there is no debate, you guys are ignoring reality."
Not all opinions are equal. Opinions without facts to back them up are worthless and better left unsaid, lest they be wrapped up in clever sophistry and presented as something more than they actually are.
@mediawatchdog & alaskastu
The CIA World Factbook defines a communist government thusly:
"Communist - a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single - often authoritarian - party holds power; state controls are imposed with the elimination of private ownership of property or capital while claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people (i.e., a classless society)."
people like mediawatchdog toss definitions and think it means one thing, while a reader thinks it means another. however, 1+1 will always equal 2.
Dust, you're scaring me that
Dust, you're scaring me that you actually spent time researching my posts. I'll give you an A for effort and I humbly bow before you...
Here is a fact
FACT......Kill your TV, it lies no matter which channel you are on!
dust - you crack me up.....
......nicely done.
Calypso is Fox incarnate!
Calypso - hats off to you as well, I think that's as close as we're going to get to an admission that someone else is correct.
dust - I'm scared for you
You demonstrated that you could stomach reading through so much of clapso's drivel in detail. How could any sane person tolerate that?
Remember the old Star Trek episode where they had the alien creatures that were so hideous that anyone gazing upon them with the naked eye would go instantly insane? Frenchie's like that. You must be Spock.
The rest of us just ignore him, or ridicule him for sport. He warrants no further effort than that.
kflynn
TVs don't lie. They just tell a different kind of truth about what kind of people and country we have become.
Season 3, Episode 5, original series
Is there in truth no beauty?
Medusan ambassador Kollos...
I wore my special visor. :-p