Why we should fear “alternative facts?” I don’t mean alternative facts themselves. We have as much to fear from them as we do Santa or the Easter Bunny. We should be worried about the phrase “alternative facts” and its introduction by the Trump administration.
Why? Think about other ways “alternative” is used: alternative energies, alternative fuels, alternative approaches. In these cases, there’s more to be discovered, and these alternatives are genuine alternatives: they are importantly different from their predecessors.
Using “alternative” to describe the facts suggests all this. But here’s the rub: facts are facts. Some are known and some aren’t. But there’s nothing alternative about known or unknown facts. But to call them “alternative” suggests that there’s more than meets the eye.
Now “alternative facts” may fade into a historical footnote, but they suggest a worrying trend: supplanting reality with off-color reality. The supplanting can be done in many ways: by silencing an entire agency (like the EPA) or preventing contact with others (denying entrance of refugees from war-torn areas).
“Alternative facts” is the opening salvo for the construction of an off-color world that will eventually bump into the real one.
Charles Lassiter
Spokane
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