Reflections From a Murky Pond

Fact: Hillary Is Not a Crook

So many people conflate facts with truth, ignoring that facts have contexts and limits that do not always, or even often, align with greater truths. For example, Hillary Clinton is not a criminal or crook; that is a fact. She has not been charged with, much less convicted of, any crime. Hence, the fact is that she not a criminal since criminal is a term constrained by the context of legalism. The truth is so obviously otherwise though.

I would say that the question of the 2016 Presidential election devolves whether or not the voters care more for truth than facts, but that statement would be neither factual nor true. Hillary’s supporters don’t care about her criminality or anything beyond her core platform.

Tags: 2016 Elections | America | Clinton | Facts | Hillary | Politics | Truth

This entry was posted on Friday, September 2nd, 2016 at 11:43 am and is filed under 2016 Election, Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Google modifies, tweaks, and just plain changes its search algorithm on a regular basis, most often to disrupt the effectiveness of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts. Now, however, a Google research team is trying to change  the algorithm, to measure the “trustworthiness” of a page, rather than its reputation across the web.

The system – which is has not yet gone live – counts the number of “incorrect” facts within a page to determine its ranking in search results instead of its reputation or popularity, as measured by incoming links, across the web.

Google – The Internet’s Gatekeeper

This, of course, begs the questions of whose facts? Whose truths? Who will decide what is innacurate and, hence, to be downlisted and effectively censored by Google?

Google’s answers are that facts that the web unanimously agrees upon are considered to be a reasonable proxy for truth. Web pages that dissent from this consensus by containing contradictory information are to be bumped down the rankings, effectively censoring them by removing them from the bulk of the web’s users.

So, insofar as the internet’s greatest gatekeeper, Google is concerned, consensus reality will be the only reality. And, of course, Google will be the arbiter of that consensus.

I guess, if Google’s plan is allowed to be implemented, nobody will read where you wrote, “And yet it moves.“

Tags: Bias | Censorship | Conformity | Consensus | Consensus Reality | Dissent | Facts | Google | Innovation | Internet | Lies | Myths | Observer Bias | Politics | Science | Social Engineering | Stagnation | Technology | Truth

This entry was posted on Monday, March 9th, 2015 at 8:52 am and is filed under Politics, Society, Technology. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

A not so fun fact of the recent 2012 Presidential Election is that Obama lost in every state that requires a photo ID to be produced before voting but narrowly “won” in several key states that did not require such ID. Conversely, Obama lost in every state that requires a photo ID to be produced before voting. That, combined with the plethora of other voting irregularities in the 2012 elections, does not look very good.

Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania total 66 electoral votes between them,don’t require voters to identify themselves, and have large population of unfranchised residents.

“Interestingly” the 66 66 electoral votes these states would, if added to Romney’s total of 205 electoral votes, would have given him 271 electoral votes, enough votes to win even without Ohio or Florida Romney, two other states without voter ID requirements and which had serious discrepancies in their voting results.

The above are the facts of the matter. That is all that they are, facts. What conclusions one draws and what actions one takes based upon those conclusions is a personal moral choice.

Tags: 2012 Elections | America | Crime | Election Fraud | Facts | Felons | Franchise | Immigration | Obama | Politics | Voting

This entry was posted on Friday, January 4th, 2013 at 9:11 am and is filed under 2012 Election. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Fact Checking is a big thing in the internet age. It’s most often used to debunk various hoaxes and urban legends, much as Mythbusters does on television. That does present a problem though…

Now I’m sure the owners and operators of Snopes.com, David and Barbara Mikkelson, are completely ethical, honest, and professional…but how would I fact check that belief? 😆

Tags: Cartoons | Facts | Hoaxes | Humor | Mikkelson | Mythbusters | Myths | Research | Snopes | Urban Legends | XKCD

This entry was posted on Monday, April 4th, 2011 at 4:53 pm and is filed under Humor. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.