General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Hey Media!!! If his tweets are complete BULLSHIT... and they are [View all]sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)If you wanted a more philosophical response, heres my take on your direct question:
Truth or fact in public debate is a real concept. And it comes from consensus. There is a truth about climate change, because a large majority of scientists and informed citizens agree.
Truth is not available on every topic some topics are not resolved. An example is whether free college is a good idea economically. That issue can have multiple sides.
Our current democratic crisis has been created in part by the GOP trying to damage truth. They do this by trying to muddy the waters, to create fake controversy on issues where facts exist. Climate change is a good example. And the GOP creates doubt by manipulating our media.
The most important thing the media can do is report facts, where they are available. The tax cut bill is a disaster for the middle class. The healthcare bill is really a big tax cut for billionaires. Those are facts. When Toomey or Price lies on TV about those topics, those guys are harming America to help billionaires. They know if they told the truth their terrible policies would be rejected. So they lie. And they do it because the media repeats their lies. If the media reported facts on topics with clear truths like this, our healthcare would be protected and this tax cut bill would be off the table.