We need fact checkers to start checking the fact checkers.
We need fact checkers to start checking the fact checkers.I have a strong dislike of the current fashion among American's decrepit and unreadable newspapers for "fact-checker" columns, because the practice attempts to cloak run-of-the-mill hacks in an aura of dispassionate authority that they do not, in fact, possess. Case in point: The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler, who has awarded "four Pinocchios" to Donald
Certainly - that is what FR is.The natural disposition is always to believe. It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity, and they very seldom teach it enough. The wisest and most cautious of us all frequently gives credit to stories which he himself is afterwards both ashamed and astonished that he could possibly think of believing. -Â Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)Here on FR we pool our “incredulity” along with that of Mark Steyn and others.But is arrogant to claim to be objective, and we should avoid arrogance. Thus, Steyn is right to reject the very idea of claiming to be a “fact checker.”