General Discussion

teach1st

(5,935 posts)

5. A problem with the report

Fri Mar 22, 2024, 10:32 PM

Mar 22

From the report, among the items that respondents had to determine as fact or opinion, item six:

6. The Earth is between 5,000 and 10,000 years old (statement of fact).

Explanation: Item 6 is a statement of fact that is factually incorrect. Only 26% of respondents answered this correctly. We suspect many of the errors may reflect thinking to the effect of “people who claim that are wrong, but they’re entitled to their opinion.” Such rationalizations potentially enable misinformation to survive by reclassifying factual error as opinion.

I missed that one. I have a hard time wrapping my head around a factually incorrect statement being a statement of fact. Current scientific consensus is that Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. Is that a statement of fact? If so, item six can't be factual. If it isn't, then item 6 isn't either. How can a statement of fact be factually incorrect?

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10 replies

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Highlight:

Americans struggle to tell the difference between fact and opinion: Study [View all] Nevilledog Mar 22 OP

And some mix 1% fact and 99% bullshit.. Permanut Mar 22 #1

This doesn't surprise me. Elessar Zappa Mar 22 #2

Just what the "God selected Trump" crowd is hoping for ck4829 Mar 22 #3

This seems obviously true. And it spans intelligence and social standing. captain queeg Mar 22 #4

There was never a law for news to be factual NanaCat Mar 23 #8

A problem with the report teach1st Mar 22 #5

I wonder if they included the idea that statements of fact could be factually incorrect. dgauss Mar 22 #6

My father believed space ships punched holes in the sky causing bad things KentuckyWoman Mar 22 #7

The 12 statements NanaCat Mar 23 #9

Interesting that a statement of fact doesn't have to be true Kaleva Mar 23 #10