We’ve all been there. High school.
A time when you and your friends would scoff at the wanna-bees.
“No, they’re not real (insert stereotype here)”
Well here we are, most of us out of high school, and yet we’re still battling over who’s who and what’s what.
“No, that’s not real democracy. Real democracy is __________.”
Now, normally, this isn't a problem. Diversity of opinion is mostly a beautiful thing.
But when you can’t agree on definitions, it tends to lead to disagreeing about facts.
For instance, the definition of a mass shooting.
CNN defines a mass shooting as “having four or more fatalities, not including gang killings or slayings that involve the death of multiple family members".
Congress redefined “mass shooting” in 2013 as a “murder of three or more people".
Mass Shooting Tracker defines mass shootings as, “any incident in which four or more people are shot, whether injured or killed”.
This may seem like such a minor difference, but it affects statistics greatly.
If a mass shooting is characterized by some as four or more people being shot, and by others as three murdered people, you’re going to get different numbers.
But which one is right?
Obviously, when you’re writing a paper and trying to make a point, you’ll choose the statistic that helps strengthen your argument.
Unfortunately, this is both unethical and factually incorrect.
In this day and age of nonstop information, there has been a halt on truth. A war on facts. We’re being fed white lies with no lie detector to hold people accountable.
Just like a stressed out college student, political parties have warped statistics in order to support their own agendas.
(And yes, this is unethical and factually incorrect)
A perfect example would be of Trump and his “Alternative Facts” he seems to rely on, time and time again.
In what world is it acceptable for America, one of the strongest nations, to have a leader who goes on twitter rants like a moody teenager and believes Obama wiretapped his microwaves?
I mean, come on.
He promised to “Make America Great Again”. I propose we make “America Great Again, Again”.
#dumptrump
