Need Facts?

When confronted with an obvious untruth you need facts, that is of course if you haven’t been talking with one of Paul Krugman’s zombies, an excellent book by the way.

Every voter has elevated emotional triggers because voting has changed from a handshake into an algorithm of who you are and what you think. The science used to manipulate self-interest emotions used to be “smallish” – found in neighborhood meetings, the coffee klatch, and rallies, cold-calls, canvasing with mail and leaflets, in hand. The activities led by these organizations of data feel reasonable and responsible.

We are entering worlds built of “new systems” that are without this kind of personal dispatch. Concrete personal data drawn from media draws down the metadata of human behavior. This data range is vast from liking and disliking candidates on a scale that brings the likelihood of staying home. All of the old simple “spoils” go to the big guys now, and we knew who they were for a while, not so much anymore.

If parsed, the kicker will show your zip code, county, or state or whether there is a likelihood that you changed your hair color. The former is legal, and the latter, not so much without a warrant that has your name on it. Even though I recently sent $10.48 to Hillary Clinton’s PAC “Stronger Together” just before 23 November 2017, I suspect that the PAC was not the only agency made aware of this action. The transfer from me to AmEx to Hillary entered easily, but I left with a long list of portals with any number of windows attached that you or I am unaware of.

Efforts to achieve data results from the things we do build on formulas no ordinary person fully understands. The first warnings regarding the entrance of these activities into American life are evident. Beware of triggering an American version of Article 50 (Brexit). I have no idea of what that might look like in the USA. Still, I suggest starting research on your Internet Service Provider (ISP) activities regarding all of the metadata associated with you and everyone you know. Here is the next kick. If you “half-agree” with my premise, are you more likely or less likely to use one of the following resources and attempt to get answers?

Fact Checkers	Description of the fact checking service
Snopes.com	A proven and reliable debunker of false statements.
Factcheck	Annenberg Public Policy Center’s focus on political statements.
PolitiFact	This site started in the early part of the 2008 presidential cycle
Verbatim	Examines claims y elected officials, political appointees, and political candidates.
BallotPedia	A professional encyclopedia of American politics and elections.
OpenSecrets	Tracks money in U.S. politics – nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit.
TruthorFiction	A mishmash and hodgepodge of all the bull on the internet. Lacks focus.
C-SPAN	How to use the C-SPAN Video Library and different ways to search for content.

Fact Checking People

“Facts are things known that need to be proven routinely. A word of caution my Dad said, ‘Believe none of what you read and only half of what you see.’ Do that, and you get better questions.
The desire of political “camps” is to communicate messages first and facts second. Media advisers and psychologists find the proof of communication in persuasion leading to action. That is it, nothing else. Millions of votes or cans of beer are the proof needed, and ethical communications standards are not required. The friends of the “fact-checking world” help to give writers perspective and the ability to set personal standards.”
Rex L. Curry