[Sunday supplement]: Is it true?

Published: Sun, 04/18/21

We live in a world in which it is easier than ever to share an opinion; the internet has made it so.

But what happens when you are served up information not as an opinion but as fact when it is untrue?

Do you question it? Or just accept it?

It probably depends on who the 'authority', claiming to know the truth about the fact, is. You may question the word of a used car salesman but accept the teaching of a recognised academic institution.

What about a government department or minister of state? The BBC v Al Jazeera? The Times v the Guardian?

And do your biases and prejudices play a part in what you believe? (Apologies to those who don't have any of these).

And do you routinely ask 'Is it true?'

This matters because most of what is served up to us as fact, is - well - based on

assumptions, opinions and the wishes of the originator.

Is that a fact or just my opinion? See what I mean.

In a fascinating article, The man who studies the spread of ignorance, about Robert Proctor, a science historian from Stanford University, who started delving into the practices of tobacco firms and how they had spread confusion about whether smoking caused cancer, Georgina Kenyon explores the deliberate propagation of ignorance, which is known as agnotology: the study of wilful acts to spread confusion and deceit, usually to sell a product or win favours.

Searching for the truth is not always comfortable. The answers may challenge your biases and beliefs. But they’ll also prevent you from making mistakes. So next time you listen to the news, read an article or hear a person speak ask yourself: is it true?

Noel Guilford