I am writing this early on Wednesday morning, so by the time you are reading this seven hours later on Wednesday afternoon...well, God only knows what may have happened.
I suspect that we all have been watching the events in Los Angeles, and the various things being said about Los Angeles. The footage of peaceful protesters. The images of violence. The ICE agents in riot gear. The rubber bullets fired. The tweets and statements by the President. By the Governor. By the Mayor.
But we are hearing different things, are we not? We may be hearing that Los Angeles is overrun with criminals, and violent protesters are rioting and looting and destroying the city and must be met with force. We may we hearing that the protests are overwhelmingly peaceful and the National Guard and Marines are not wanted, and were sent to deliberately escalate the situation. Americans are hearing very different facts.
What to do? We can make sure our information is from good sources. Did you know there is an International Fact-Checking Network? I didn't!
Some members of the IFCN:
https://apnews.com/hub/ap-fact-check
https://www.factcheck.org/
https://www.usatoday.com (search for “fact check”)
https://thedispatch.com/category/fact-check/
https://leadstories.com/
https://www.poynter.org/news/fact-checking/
https://www.politifact.com
https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/fact-check
https://www.snopes.com/
"All of the above are members of the International Fact-Checking Network. Becoming a signatory requires a demonstrated commitment to using unbiased sources, relying on primary material, identifying multiple lines of evidence and including links to all of the above so readers can replicate their work. Signatories of the IFCN Code of Principles are subjected to the established vetting process and evaluated by external assessors. Through this process, an organization must exhibit a commitment to nonpartisanship and fairness, transparency of sources, transparency of funding and organization, transparency of methodology, and a commitment to open and honest corrections."
While reality is always subject to interpretation and filtered through our experience and biases, there are some things we can establish as true.
So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you
speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are
members of one another.
Ephesians 4:25
