Unless you’re cut off from society (lucky you), you’re aware of the hottest buzz words since last November – “fake news” and “alternative facts”. Politicians blame the media for the problem; the media blames politicians; and others are trying to legislate it. Consider the recently submitted H.Res. 191, designed to force the Executive Branch to acknowledge when any member has put out a later-proven-false statement. This resolution of the 115thCongress even has a snappy, Tweet-worthy title: “Opposing fake news and alternative facts.”
I hope a member of Congress attempts to pass a counter resolution creating a moratorium on public laziness and stupidity. You see, calling fake news “new” is, in fact, a false or “fake” statement. Since the dawn of communication and politics, pundits have taken to the airwaves, the editorial pages, the podiums, the rooftops or the Pony Express to circulate outright lies and twisted truths. This is not new.
The first example that comes to mind, from my family’s Freedom Trail tour last year, is the famed midnight ride of Paul Revere. While Paul didn’t howl, “the Russians have hacked me” or “my predecessor has bugged my office,” he did yell the 18th Century equivalent. Trouble is, it didn’t really happen the way most of us think it did. But a long-famous narrative rhyme of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written some 86 years after the Battle of Bunker Hill, detailed the infamous journey, citing events that never occurred or, at best, were misrepresented. Still, most Americans, myself included, confused the facts – which we never bothered to learn – with what Longfellow wrote.
Fast-forward to the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Tina Fey appeared regularly on Saturday Night Live, brilliantly assuming her spot-on rendition of Alaskan Governor and then-Vice Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin. In perhaps the most memorable sketch, Fey-as-Palin announced, “I can see Russia from my house!” While the sketch was hilarious, an astonishing number of people actually believed they had heard Palin say it.
That leads to my personal favorite example of people believing pundits without learning the story for themselves. I call it, “Hot Coffee is Hot.” You may remember the 1992 case in which 79-year-old Stella Liebeck sued McDonalds and received a sizeable judgment for third-degree burns she sustained on her legs after spilling coffee purchased at an Albuquerque, NM, drive-through. Commentators still use this case as the poster child for “What’s wrong with America that we have to be warned on pre-printed cups and lids that “coffee is hot.” They argue, “Of course coffee is hot! Can you believe this idiot didn’t know that and put the cup between her legs?” They throw in “costing taxpayers…,” for effect, adding, “We now have to put warning labels on everything, because people are too stupid to remember that hot coffee is hot.”
I’m a recovering attorney. Nothing used to irritate me more than hearing people ramble about the McDonald’s coffee case. Too bad the case wasn’t actually about the temperature of coffee. Instead, this case was about corporate greed. McDonald’s had been warned over several years’ time that it served its coffee about 20°F hotter than most restaurants. In fact, when Ms. Liebeck was first injured, she initially only wanted $20,000. But McDonalds countered with a mere $800 to heed health inspectors’ warnings and to respond to Ms. Liebeck, whose initial award was set at $2.9 million and later reduced to $640,000. The public, however, only remembered the $2.9 million figure, leading the packaging industry to make a lot of money over the fact that we already know coffee is hot. This case was not about personal injury; it was about corporate greed combined with America’s willingness to believe public opinion pundits.
While we’re discussing the truth, let me share a little secret: There is no such thing as truth. There never has been, and never will be. But there are facts; there are lies; there is fake news and there are times when we confuse fiction and reality. We shouldn’t personally care how someone interprets their version of the facts. Again, if there is no truth, everything else is an interpretation, right?
The lesson? Your accountability is your credibility. You can build credibility by accounting for facts or citing actual events. You’ll not only appear much smarter for doing so, but you’re much less likely feed the rumor mill if you preface your stories with, “Bob Green said…” or “In Jill Jones’ version…” or “Alec-Baldwin (as-the-45th-President) said…” instead of making blanket statements like, “Sarah Palin can see Alaska from her house.”
To the authors of H.Res. 191: Stop trying to legislate fake news. Remember that “fake news” is not new. It may be repeated more often. But as Longfellow’s infamous rhyme proved, a good rumor will be around centuries after the truth.
