Opinions vary; facts never do - St. Cloud Times
April 30, 2009
By Patrick Henry; Times Writers
Group; April 28, 2009
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.”
When people disregard this sage observation of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, we’re Through the Looking Glass with Alice, where Humpty Dumpty declares, “When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.”
To Alice’s objection, “The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things,” Humpty Dumpty responds, “The question is which is to be master — that’s all.”
Facts, words, opinions get jumbled in the news, on the Web and in our heads. Which piece of this jumble is to be master of our own thought? The answer has practical consequences.
When our elected officials claim their opinion is grounded in facts, we should, at a minimum, be able to trust that they’re telling the truth.
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