The only facts are what I can perceive with my own senses and what comes directly from people I know enough to have a judgment I consider reliable on their trustworthiness.
Fact is that entities using the expression fake news are often not better than the ones they accuse.
Our perception and memories are known to be very unreliable.
Massive amounts of fake news.
Suggesting that nobody can really know the difference between fantasy and reality is a misinformation tactic used by the kremlin to create more useful idiots who suggest the same.
Reading your comments in this thread, I know beforehand that my replying will be useless, but I'm bored.
If you can’t see which one is right and which one is wrong, then yes, there’s no point in you replying, to anyone, about anything.
"My Mama says that alligators are ornery because they got all them teeth and no toothbrush!" - The Waterboy
If the Waterboy trusts Mama does this make it a fact?
Ultimately, the word "fact" in this context means "what someone considers a fact". You can be wrong, but if you can't trust your own senses or judgment, how can you live in this world? Well, rhetorical question, since there are no sincere solipsists.
The problem is that what you think of as "made up shit" and "lying" can be manipulated without you knowing.
For example, Covid lab leak theory was deliberately made to look like fake news by some guys who would lose money if it were true: https://web.archive.org/web/20210709212358id_/https://www.bm...
There is no need to be a conspiracist to simply understand that with 100% likelihood at any time there is something true that you think is fake news, no matter which side you are on.
Then it became clear that the Chinese govt wasn't going to investigate or admit if it was a leak, accidental or not. At which point I file as we'll never know + who cares at this point.
And then after that it blew up as a political football in the US. It's not fake news, it's just pointless opinions.
Fake news is saying it was a lab leak, or it wasn't a lab leak. Neither is a true statement. Both are polarising and ill informed positions.
In any case, I don't disagree with your premise that we can be manipulated quite easily.
I'm talking when reputable media reports on people who say "it may be a lab leak" as conspiracists, stories and posts get demoted on FB an IG, etc. That's manipulation and "fake news". It was widely believed on US left apparently, yet those who bought that angle and who talk about "fake news" like they have some magic radar are mostly the same people.
> At which point I file as we'll never know + who cares at this point
We just went through a traumatic pandemic with pretty bad effects and pretty massive human life toll, so... everyone?
Yes you misunderstood because I worded that badly and glibly. We can't know and the issue is so muddied and we had a lot to deal with. The virus was already out, knowing wouldn't put it back. The best reaction is to reconsider all these labs anyway.