A new category in fact checking is upon us.
WaPo calls something a “bottomless Pinocchio” whenever a fact that’s checked is rated as a 3 or 4 Pinocchio lie/misstatement. Plus, it is repeated at least 20 times- no one can make an innocuous mistake that many times (that seems like a generous # to me).
And guess who the ONLY currently elected official is that qualifies for even a SINGLE bottomless Pinocchio? DJT. And he’s got 14 of them (!).
I hope the next step is for ALL news outlets to publicly identify these statements when the president makes them, and labels them as such. If the lies aren’t given oxygen, it makes them less powerful.
This is where we are as a country folks. We’ve got about a third or so of the country that doesn’t care that they’re being lied to by their president- he literally attempts to create his own reality. And we’ve now got a category of a lie called a “bottomless Pinocchio”.
Side rant-
I don’t know if I’m more ashamed, disappointed or baffled by the phenomenon that leads to the creation of such a category. Probably ashamed- I understand the grievances of the “typical” Trump voter, and the typical Republican that explains away everything Trump does. Of course I’m disappointed that truth isn’t truth anymore, and that we as a country are discarding what’s inconvenient to us, and embracing an alternate universe that caters to our philosophies/desires/tribe.
But, ashamed is probably the dominant emotion for me now. Damnit, we’re better than this. At least I thought we were.
WaPo calls something a “bottomless Pinocchio” whenever a fact that’s checked is rated as a 3 or 4 Pinocchio lie/misstatement. Plus, it is repeated at least 20 times- no one can make an innocuous mistake that many times (that seems like a generous # to me).
And guess who the ONLY currently elected official is that qualifies for even a SINGLE bottomless Pinocchio? DJT. And he’s got 14 of them (!).
I hope the next step is for ALL news outlets to publicly identify these statements when the president makes them, and labels them as such. If the lies aren’t given oxygen, it makes them less powerful.
This is where we are as a country folks. We’ve got about a third or so of the country that doesn’t care that they’re being lied to by their president- he literally attempts to create his own reality. And we’ve now got a category of a lie called a “bottomless Pinocchio”.
Side rant-
I don’t know if I’m more ashamed, disappointed or baffled by the phenomenon that leads to the creation of such a category. Probably ashamed- I understand the grievances of the “typical” Trump voter, and the typical Republican that explains away everything Trump does. Of course I’m disappointed that truth isn’t truth anymore, and that we as a country are discarding what’s inconvenient to us, and embracing an alternate universe that caters to our philosophies/desires/tribe.
But, ashamed is probably the dominant emotion for me now. Damnit, we’re better than this. At least I thought we were.
