{"id":2982,"date":"2012-10-22T10:25:50","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T15:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/blackwhiteandgray\/?p=2982"},"modified":"2012-10-22T13:33:10","modified_gmt":"2012-10-22T18:33:10","slug":"why-fact-checking-falls-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/blackwhiteandgray\/2012\/10\/why-fact-checking-falls-short\/","title":{"rendered":"Why “Fact Checking” Falls Short"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\n

Perhaps it\u2019s my imagination, but \u201cfact checking\u201d this election season seems to have reached a fever pitch. This despite the historically weak tie between facts and politics in general, it would seem. Perhaps I\u2019m overly sensitive to it, given the word-by-word scrutiny to which my own work and media interviews have been subject recently. (Not that the media would ever<\/em> misquote someone\u2026)<\/p>\n

But after \u201clecturing\u201d to a class of 12-year-olds yesterday on some themes in the book of Exodus, I am reminded again of the difference between moderns\u2019 assumptions about detailed history\u2013what we often mean by \u201cthe facts\u201d\u2013and historiography, the telling of history over time and from particular perspectives. Moreover, the former is not very easy to accomplish, and always, always misses material and meanings. It\u2019s partial by definition. This came to mind when I briefly noted to the class that Exodus 1:6 simply states, \u201cThen Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation.\u201d The author (or authors\/redactors) of that text clearly was not interested in conveying the details of the aging and death of the sons of Jacob\u2013indeed, most of their lives and that of their children and their families\u2013but rather with the rise of Moses and the Mosaic Law, from the perspective of those under it. So they paid some things no attention. So be it. (Then you have the lengthy lineages found in a variety of places in the Pentateuch, where we moderns feel like they paid too much<\/em> attention to detail.)<\/p>\n

People are often tempted to think that such a peculiar way of doing<\/em> history is flawed, but in reality all accounts of \u201cnews\u201d or \u201cfacts\u201d are perspectival and partial. There is what actually happened\u2013if it can be known\u2013and then there\u2019s the teller, who is a complex person (or organization) with interests, by default. There\u2019s a philosophy of history embedded in all history writing, and indeed even in all news media. In a world increasingly short on attention span but long on bandwidth, this should only grow more<\/em> familiar to us, not less. Take, for a recent example, the recent death of our Libyan ambassador. There are the facts, and frankly they may never be known with certainty, not simply because some people \u201cwon\u2019t tell,\u201d but because eyewitnesses saw different content and perceived different meanings, and have complex interests in relating \u201cthe facts\u201d to those different sorts of persons (with quite different interests) who ask them. Add to that the untimely occurrence of this in an election season, and Senate and\/or House hearings on the matter, and political sabre-rattling, and you can see how layers of interpretation are added.<\/p>\n

And yet we still speak glowingly of \u201cthe facts.\u201d In the Era of Science, we sense somehow that facts are always knowable. We presume someone is guardian of The Truth About Things.<\/p>\n

This is normal behavior. What\u2019s not normal, because it\u2019s not really possibly in a strong way, is to have a very good grasp of \u201call<\/em> the facts.\u201d What\u2019s relevant, after all? Even what counts (or is ignored) as evidence is constituted by particular perspectives. A recent critic of mine suspects I have been directly aiding the Romney campaign, but I\u2019m not sure that the utter lack of evidence will convince them that I am not. To the critic, it\u2019s simply evidence that my aid is more clandestine and thus I am\u00a0even more<\/em> suspect.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s often an unrealistic challenge to learn all the facts about events that have already occurred, even recent ones, let alone those that have not. So \u201cfact-checking\u201d presidential candidates and their promises, budgets, plans, etc., is almost a joke. Almost. Moreover, to flippantly accuse one of them (but not the other) of lying\u2013a ubiquitous occurrence of late\u2013is to misunderstand all this.<\/p>\n

It would behoove us all in this election season to understand that all politics involves some deceptions, and that human memory fails, and that people misspeak. We ought to remember that the public will always dislike \u201cthe facts\u201d if they were all<\/em> laid bare (and in today\u2019s world, more are laid bare than ever before). This is true about most any of us, for that matter. Let\u2019s be grateful that our thoughts\u2013and for many, their words and actions\u2013aren\u2019t always an open book. We are flawed persons electing flawed candidates who will no doubt run flawed administrations. The two candidates for highest office have quite different philosophies on governance, rights, goods, economics, the role of the State,\u00a0etc. (and probably most importantly, very different teams of trusted advisors and assistants). Vote on those<\/em>. Not on some wistful idea of honesty and commitment to \u201cthe facts.\u201d Politics has never dealt deeply in that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perhaps it\u2019s my imagination, but \u201cfact checking\u201d this election season seems to have reached a fever pitch. This despite the historically weak tie between facts and politics in general, it would seem. Perhaps I\u2019m overly sensitive to it, given the word-by-word scrutiny to which my own work and media interviews have been subject recently. (Not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[235,236,35],"class_list":["post-2982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mark-regnerus","tag-election","tag-history","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy "Fact Checking" Falls Short<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Perhaps it's my imagination, but "fact checking" this election season seems to have reached a fever pitch. 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