Social media fans Zucked again? Update 1 14 2025

Are social media fans Zucked again? Yes, but now it means working harder to get credible facts and data. For those who blindly accept such postings on social media as fact in the past...and do not question, understand that social media is opinion, and needs to be taken with a grain of salt or verification. It contains possible cherry-picked data to make a point, planted propaganda, fantasy, or something "that just sounds right to you". Even then, the old saw...figures can lie and liars can figure...has value. The source of the facts presented needed to be examined. Opinions have value; Opinions with credible data or fact sources have even more value. Be a good skeptic. Do not trust social media for facts or truth research in the past, and especially now.

Update 1 14 2025: Update: 1 14 2025 In reaction to rumors that Musk is considering buying TikTok and Zuckerberg caved into Trump and stopped fact-checking on Facebook, this is very important; non-profit media is launching an effort to keep social media out of the hands of billionaires. In the meantime, like never before, social media should be treated as people's opinions but not as a source of credible facts and data. My policy is to list the sources of my facts and data cite and what is influencing my opinions on my blog or on social media postings. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/a-30-million-campaign-to-free-social-media-from-billionaire-control-is-now-underway/

Skepticism does not mean there is no such thing as facts or factual data. How the data or facts were collected by whom counts and is better to be relied on than some theory or observation.  It depends on the ability to do critical thinking.  From my 2023 posting on what that is:

Critical thinking has many definitions, but all include the use of rational reasons for arguing a point deducted from facts that are available.  It is akin to the method of published critics of art and music who may feel something in their gut but give reasons for liking or not liking the performance or a painting based on what they heard or saw instead of just writing "it stinks".  Often, such critics comment on both the good and the bad, but they cite reasons for both positive and negative observations, and their conclusion deserving their verdict are expressed sometimes in terms of one to five stars.   They are practicing "critical thinking".

All definitions of critical thinking have much in common. Critical thinking includes understanding available data and facts, deductive reasoning, and a dose of skepticism.. That is a way of thinking instead of simply parroting back something that sounds right to you or you hope is true.  If you challenge some people to give their data and facts for their opinions and all you get back are opinion memes and insults, that is not critical thinking.  Demanding those with opposing opinions should agree is not "critical thinking", either. Calling those who disagree with you clowns or worse is not critical thinking. It may be criticizing, but it is not critical thinking. 

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/critical-thinking-is-very-misunderstood.html

Democracy has an oligarch problem updated 1/13/2025

Mark Zuckerberg Drops DEI And Fact Checking - Search News

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/a-30-million-campaign-to-free-social-media-from-billionaire-control-is-now-underway/

Donald Trump has threatened to shut down broadcasters, but can he?

How Hungary's Orbán uses control of the media to escape scrutiny and keep the public in the dark | The Associated Press

Why does Trump appeal to voters with less than a college degree?

There is a reason Trump's demographic appeals to the least educated in this country. It is easier to manipulate and lie to the uneducated.  Here are some examples of why: We have been there before with isolationism and fascism and appeasement. Trump touts all three. These were failures then 90 years ago and will be failures in the future. Education is a substitute for institutional memory that few alive have from 80 to 90 years ago.. Fascism destroyed Germany and Italy. Isolationism and appeasement only work when there are no aggressive adversaries. The US and British tried and it resulted in WW II. We have it now with Russia and China who are aggressive adversaries. To them, appeasement and boot-licking is the sign of weakness, not alliances, to be taken advantage of. 

 I am on a private Facebook page that is a rare interface with both Trump voters and progressives.  It is entitled Political Debate and Discussion.  Neither happens because the Trump supporters simply post meme bombs instead of discussing and debating.  Dropping a clever phrase of a meme and then thinking they have dropped the mike, and therefore, their truth is enough to win an argument, is not debate or discussion. It is simply meme and insult hurling.  The meme that got me this morning came from a Trump supporter (identified by other frequent FB postings), basically calling the educated from Ivy League schools dumb for not agreeing with them on issues. It is the old "anti-pointy-headed" name-calling that has proved to be helpful in getting the vote of the less educated ever since Adlai Stevenson lost in the 1950s when I first became aware of politics. He was just too intellectual. Trump depends on less schooled and educated for his support.  Self-interest usually underlies voters more than another element in motivating votes, which is my observation.  However, there is room for rational discussion, particularly on public policy issues, if not on cultural, religious, and racial motivation.  One of the greatest dividers in our current political climate is how much education a voter has, whether they have a college degree or not, if they are racially identified as white. 

In college, you learn more about the past so you do not repeat the failures and mistakes of others, and you learn there are also two sides to most contentious issues and you can make comparisons and contrasts. Granted, it is so much easier to reproduce a meme and share it. It saves a person from learning about data and evidence. Education changes perspectives and gives a realization that things are not always as simple as they seem and that there may be unintended consequences.

 Biden improved over Clinton among White non-college voters. White voters without a college degree were critical to Trump’s victory in 2016 when he won the group by 64% to 28%. In 2018, Democrats gained some ground with these voters, earning 36% of the White, non-college vote to Republicans’ 61%. In 2020, Biden roughly maintained the Democrats’ 2018 share among the group, improving Clinton’s 2016 performance by receiving the votes of 33%. But Trump’s share of the vote among this group – who represented 42% of the total electorate this year – was nearly identical to his vote share in 2016 (65%). Pew Research, source of figures.  Biden's blue-collar background, the guy from Scranton, has made some inroads in the non-college-educated demographic, and you see him on the campaign trail now emphasizing his pro-union advocacy.

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/06/30/behind-bidens-2020-victory/

• "Biden improved over Clinton among White non-college voters. White voters without a college degree were critical to Trump’s victory in 2016, when he won the group by 64% to 28%. In 2018, Democrats gained some ground with these voters, earning 36% of the White, non-college vote to Republicans’ 61%. In 2020, Biden roughly maintained Democrats’ 2018 share among the group, improving upon Clinton’s 2016 performance by receiving the votes of 33%. But Trump’s share of the vote among this group – who represented 42% of the total electorate this year – was nearly identical to his vote share in 2016 (65%)."

Religious affiliation is another large determinant influencing voters' decisions besides race that overwhelms political critical thinking. It did not used to be that way. I am a white Christian protestant who belongs to a mainstream traditional church, and sometimes I wonder where some of the theology that has nothing to do with the bible I read comes from.  I grew up in the "bible belt," where the goal was to get more believers in faith preached in a particular denomination.. Now it has become, get more Trump supporters because he is the second coming.  So, I listen.  

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/flashpoint-trump-republican-christian-tv-show-rcna150303

That is not a unanimous view, even among those protestants who identify themselves as evangelicals, and there is pushback, but the Christian nationalism this Flashpoint preacher promotes is very much part of the Trump political base.  It helps answer the question of where is this belief ideology coming from

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/simple-minds-for-simple-solutions.html

How would being anti-woke unify the country? Updated 9 5 23

Updated: 9/5/2023

 I am puzzled. I often hear from GOP wannabe nominees for president claim that if they get elected, the country would be unified. A  unified country is a lovely idea, but what is their definition of unified? How would they accomplish it? Explain? What and why is woke considered evil and anti-woke their ideal?  Do not let them get away with such platitudes. The answers to these questions are keys to the future of this country. Will it be peace and prosperity or conflict, violence, chaos, and uncertainty? This is probably the most important blog posting I ever wrote.

Our nation is somewhere around a 50-50 split, deeply divided on cultural issues and listening only to their preferred media outlets. We will, in a short time, be a nation of what is now a minority of black and brown that will soon be a majority. We have candidates who dog whistle to fellow white nationalists and even to those who have not identified themselves as such intellectually but who respond to fear, fear of immigrants, fear of those of different religions or races, or even sexual identity, and support candidates who channel and give voice to their inner-selves they know is not politically correct. There is loose talk about civil war, retribution, and the ending of democracy, as we have known it, as well.  The Trump factor and the MAGA control of the GOP,  and even defining what is woke and anti-woke, fascism, and democracy on the ballot, are currents swirling around the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. These are not just idle talk, but debates and elections will profoundly shape how we will be governed after 250 years of the great experiment in democracy.   Discussion follows.

THE TRUMP FACTOR

.We have a past president, now the leading candidate for their party's nomination for president,   Donald Trump, who has a long history of supporting violence to accomplish a political goal, and pledges to pardon, the perpetrators of January 6, and failed even to summon the national guard while the riot raged.. Street violence committed by white people is fine, but violence committed by black people and their supporters should be put down by active military, as the George Floyd Summer and Lafayette Square illustrated. His fellow travelers, the MAGAs,  applaud his view of violence. His favored political tools: fear and retribution.These are the ones who  have identified the enemy as "woke."  How does electing them or leader Trump bring our country together? Their approach lays the groundwork for more strife, violence, and racial conflict, not unification. Trump, if the GOP candidate in 2024 and loses, his view of unification of the country of the loser was not only exhibited in 2020, his view is to fight like hell and defy peaceful transition of power.  He is the opposite of a unifier, the singular exception since 1860.  All others delivered acceptance of the outcome of the election for the purpose of honoring the peaceful transfer of power. 

THE MAGA GOP FACTOR 

It isn't just Trump:So explain to me, GOP wannabe presidents, most who pledge to support Trump if he is convicted of a crime and if he is the party candidate, what you mean by national unity. I see some possibilities, some more likely than others, and they are ugly. It involves suppression and violence, the election of a "strong man".  Some even claim civil war will erupt if they do not get their way. Maybe, GOP presidential hopefuls, you can give me a more positive spin.  Here are the uglies:

a.  Elect a strong man to run the country. Eliminate institutional liberal democracy. Choose one who believes he is not bound by any laws. He'll take care of the protestors just like Putin does.  That approach is the one to fear the most, but there are other,  more likely possibilities.

b. Elect a strong man like Viktor Orban who achieves a dictatorship by consensus of his 99% pure ethnic Huntary by buying out opposition media so he can continue hiding the corruption of those supporting him without nosy investigative reporters. It is mind control of the willing. The GOP, now Maga GOP, fawns over the Orban prospect and holds conferences in Hungary to favor that approach. While the US is hardly 99% ethnic or racially pure, many long for such purity that mirrors themselves, and there are many fellow travelers motivated by business interests and taxation advantages. There are those with blue-ribbon education who seek political power with the zeal and talent of modern-day demagogues.. They know their constituents and exploit them for political gain. There are others who do not care and who ignore or who are ignorant of the lessons of such history. They are in real danger of being groomed by those who manipulate the education system so that history as it really happened is no longer taught. There is a  correlation between deep red states and the low education level of their populace, as well.   

c. Control the executive branch by purging opposition and eliminating civic service, gerrymander even more, keeping the dark campaign money flowing as they honor Citizen's United, which gives coverage to secret contributions by our own  US version of oligarchs. Suppress opposition voters by manipulating existing election structures. Undermine confidence in an independent judiciary system or sabotage it with appointees loyal to one ideology or leader instead of following laws. Hmmm.  That sounds familiar. It should. It is happening now before our very American eyes. It is how the Orbans and Erdogans of the Western world got power and are keeping it despite democratic institutions and safeguards.  This is mostly the brainchild of the Heritage Foundation who, after gaining control of the Supreme Court, now are want to control the executive branch, returning to a spoils system, and eliminating civial service. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/conservative-groups-draw-up-plan-to-dismantle-the-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trump-s-vision/ar-AA1g0dTK?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=b3e3db3ba23e4af09b5ce90592832212&ei=12  This also echoes prior statements of intent by Trump to eliminate career and civil service in the executive branch and to use the DOJ to get "retribution" against those who have opposed him.   https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+proposed+ending+civil+service&sca_esv

WHAT IS A WOKE PERSON?

 As a person who falls into the "woke" category, I am white,  of the silent generation, a straight, protestant woman who sees being "woke" as the only way to achieve peace or domestic tranquility .In 85 years, history is not abstract to me.. I have lived it. I don't get it. this anti-woke talk.. I believe the anti-woke is making sure in the future that if they have their way, domestic peace is not on the agenda. On the other hand,  the woke provides an ethic, an approach to tolerate and respect differences, and a path to get along together in a fractured,  racially and demographically diverse future.

While I am not a great fan of memes, I saw this one defining what being "woke" means.  It is a pretty good definition of the positive attributes of being "woke" and  gives some substance why being woke has a better chance of unifying the country than trying to accomplish it with an iron fist of defanging the "woke" by whatever means possible (A,B, or C)     

Another factor that underlies all of this is a growing divide in the education level between Democrats and Republicans.. It is a reverse of years of Democrats appealing to the blue-collar, high school educated while Republicans had more support from those with higher degrees. It is the opposite now. It has happened recently and quickly.  Why and how this has happened will be the subject of many opinions and academic dissertations, but my own theory is that the more education you have, the more you can put matters into perspective and, indeed learn from history. Education increases the ability to use critical thinking.   MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Critical thinking: a misunderstood term that fueled the obsession with CRT     This is why Desantis' anti-woke campaign and the attempts at revisionism of history he advocates and implements in Florida schools is so dangerous.  It is a way of shaping future minds, painting a false view of slavery, is a way of combatting the "woke". The approach is the brainchild of Praeger U. It is also now spreading to other states, including Oklahoma.

CIVIL WAR?

What is this talk about civil war? I was startled by conversations with my late 20s, something grandchildren. They fear the country may break apart with violence sometime in the future, not because they would be the perpetrators but because the racist white nationalists would gain the upper hand.    I had only heard advocacy of a civil war from the current ultra-right wing, but never predicted by those I thought were "woke," as my grandchildren are. Their attitude is, yes, we'll vote, but it won't stop anything, so why do more. It is kismet. Needless to say, they got a stern lecture from me, as I also accused them of being nihilists. Here is how they rationalize their attitude: We don't talk to others directly. We are captive of algorithms and social media. We are just a speck and are powerless. Thoughts run through my head. They have to be watching too many doomsday movies and sci-fi,  yet both can know much and hear snatches of conversations among their peers. Yowwwser.  Organize, activate, I said. Two can play the social media game. Just don't vote, but get your fellow generalists together. We are not a dictatorship yet. You still have a chance, so do it now while you can. You can still head off doomsday. I will not be here on this earth much longer, but I am counting on you, zoomers, I say.

  The 1860 election of Abe Lincoln resuledt in a civil war, as five southern states formed the confederacy.  In that conflict, 360,222 Union and 258,000 Confederate fighters died. {Wikipedia) 

https://wapo.st/44zBbiB   The Only US ‘Civil War’ Will Be a War on Democracy - The Washington Post

Trump appears to break with 124-year history of concession speeches, experts discuss - YouTube

Who's signed the GOP loyalty pledge? - ABC News

Trump Just Broke Through the Last Level of Neo-Fascism (yahoo.com)

 MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump fans the flames of violence, yet calls himself the law and order president updated

, The GOP candidates were asked if they would support Trump as the presidential nominee if he was convicted. Here's how they responded. - CBS News

https://time.com/4665755/donald-trump-fear/

Majority minority in the United States - Wikipedia

 https://www.politico.com/interactives/2022/midterm-election-house-districts-by-education/

What Is PragerU: Controversial Conservative Platform Entering Classrooms In Florida And Oklahoma (forbes.com)

 

. 

Critical thinking: a misunderstood term that fueled the obsession with CRT

Update: April17, 2023

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: .Anti Wokeness and anti masking: issues come to a blue state county

"Culture war" in Woodland Park schools - A hi performing, spirited school takes a turn for the worst as right wing zealots take over.   

1. Gag orders on teachers, cutting mental health support, operating …

   https://www.cpr.org/2023/04/20/woodland-park-school-board

   Web6 hours ago · Hart Van Denburg/CPR News Mary Ward, who was fired from her support staff job at Woodland Park Schools, stands outside her child’s elementary school in Woodland …

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: .Anti Wokeness and anti masking: issues come to a blue state county

In Elizabeth, Colorado recently half of the school board resigned because of anti CRT obsessions of others fighting the CRT ghost which is not even taught in their schools. It had made it impossible to deal with other pressing issues. Elizabeth School Board resignations over CRT complaints accepted (coloradosun.com)    CRT contains a  word" critical", and so does "critical thinking"" a methodology of research used in graduate level courses on Critical Race Theory..  Anti CRT is, however, a political rallying cry that is fed by ignorance of a graduate level academic and philosophical methodology of seeking the truth. It is not taught at any elementary or high school  but fighting this ghost has had  real life political and public policy impacts as it had in Elizabeth and in Florida..   Critical thinking sounds better but some take it as a green light to hurl insults and name calling.  It is not advocacy of  a one sided "woke". Critical thinking is not the same as "criticizing". I think we agree on the need for critical thinking. We may disagree on the definition. Google the definition before throwing the term around.  It may explain why CRT, critical race theory is so frightening  to those who think it means teaching criticizing White people while advocating the black perception of slavery or the history of the civil rights movement. Because the term "critical thinking" is an abstract concept, it takes effort to understand it is also a  disciplined method for intellectuals and academics to seek the truth. The method has its roots in Socrates. Because of  its abstractness, it has  has become a term politicians could  easily abuse and use as a polite form to an appeal to a racist inclined base without sounding rawly racist.  In Florida with the advocacy by Ron DeSantis, rules, laws and regulations have attempted to control how racial history is taught in response to those who have become fearful of CRT, Critical Racial Theory. CRT is an  academic method of graduate level study using critical thinking methodology and has not been taught in any public school in Florida. DeSantis has made "anti woke" his mantra and anti CRT action is his dog whistle demagogury.    

Critical thinking has many definitions, but all include the use of rational reasons for arguing a point deducted from facts that are available.  It is akin to  the method of published critics of art and music who may feel something in their gut but give reasons liking or not liking the performance or a painting  based on what they heard or saw  instead of just writing "it stinks".  Often, such critics comment on both the good and the bad, but they cite reasons for both positive and negative observations and their conclusion deserving their verdict are expressed sometimes in terms of  one to five stars.   They are practicing "critical thinking".

All definitions of critical thinking have much in common. Critical thinking includes understanding available data and facts, deductive reasoning, and a dose of skepticism.. That is a way of thinking instead of simply parroting back something that sounds right to you or you hope is true..  If you challenge some people to give  their data and facts for their opinions and  all you get back are opinion memes and insults, that is not critical thinking.  Demanding those with  opposing opinions should agree is not "critical thinking", either. Calling those who disagree with you clowns or worse is not critical thinking. It may be criticizing, but it is not critical thinking. 

Update: 4/15/2023

Note: Denver students participated in this program. I think there is no better description of what critical thinking is about and how destructive it is to squelch it. It is appropriate at both high school and college level to look at both sides of an issue, look at the research, and come to conclusions. What a contrast it is with the ignorant and unthinking attempts to condemn CRT in certain states by those who think there is only one side to an issue and become zealots on behalf of their side. The best part of the education I had was not in a classroom but as a debater at both high school (a nationally ranked program) and in college (Northwestern University), where competition required us to debate one round representing affirmative support of a proposition and then in the next round advocate against the same proposition. In the latter 1950s, at the high school level, the National Forensic League was the governing body nationwide of speech and debate meetings, and they set the national topic. I distinctly remember the one in my high school sophomore year that was: Should we have direct election of the president (and do away with the electoral college) and free trade was the topic in my junior year.. The debate of both of these topics are just as relevant now as they were then, and just as contentions and complex as they are now.

https://www.denverpost.com/.../douglas-county-school.../...

ign=denverpost.com-2901340#

Absolutely deserving. This is what happens when the newly elected ideologically tilted school board against Covid mask wearing and bogus claims the superintendent supported CRT got rid of one superintendent to replace him with another they had preferred..

NEWSWEEK.COM

High school debate and America's toxic national discourse

With a live, in-office debate, eight high school students with the National 

DeSantis signs bill banning critical race theory in schools (wptv.com)

Who do you trust for bringing you the news: a plea for critical thinking

In the wake of discovery in the Dominion's defamation suit against media that major FOX News stars themselves did not believe the 2020 election was stolen but promoted "stop the steal"anyway, I found myself in an interesting dialog in a private political Facebook page.  I asked how long it would take before FOX News fans realized they had been taken for fools by those they had trusted?  Paying attention to that one issue of election denial is worth the effort since it was the "stop the steal" slogan that gave the rationale for January 6 participants and was used by Trump to justify his passive and active attempts to claim a second term, even after many loyalists testified under oath they told him he had lost. It was the greatest attack on the democratic process since the Civil War.

The response from a participant on the page responded with," lib media lied too."  He was now going to trust Twitter to get his information. 

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: No kidding. The real fear facing FOX: loss of audience trust

"If you seek to find an opinion or many opinions that justify your already established opinions, Twitter is a great source for you. If you want facts or truth, alternative or otherwise, try using the old Reagan mantra: trust but verify. That is one definition of critical thinking. That is a way of thinking instead of simply parroting back something that sounds right to you or you hope is true.  I think we agree on the need for critical thinking. We may disagree on the definition. Google the definition before throwing the term around. Just criticizing, is not it. Demanding the opposing opinion should agree is not it, either, either or calling those who disagree with you clowns is not critical thinking. It may be criticizing, but it is not critical thinking. All definitions of critical thinking. have some things in common. Critical thinking includes understanding available data and facts, deductive reasoning and a dose of skepticism.. That is a way of thinking instead of simply parroting back something that sounds right to you or you hope is true. In my blog, I footnote where I got my data and facts, but when I challenge some people to give me their data and facts, all I get back are opinion memes and insults. It may be criticizing, but that is not critical thinking." Critical", the word in that concept, does not mean "criticizing". It means actually giving rational reasons for arguing a point deducted from facts that are available.  

I could have continued with my lecture by writing speculation is not the same as verification or a substitute for fact or truth, but questioning and speculating is where you begin the process of searching for facts and truth.   The justice system depends on weighing facts, data, and evidence, not theories, speculation, opinions, overheard conversations,  and ignorance. In December 2020, nearly all federal judges, regardless of who appointed them or their party affiliation ruled against the accusers that the election was stolen or they ruled there was not enough evidence of fraud to change the election outcome.  There were a  variety of reasons, including a lack of evidence and ignorance of the process. Trump knew this but persisted with his lie. American voters are different than a court of law. The political system as constructed in the Constitution was invented during the late 1700's "age of reason," which was based on the belief that men were capable of rational thought.   The American form of democracy depends upon voters to exercise rational judgment even when advocates of one side or the other spin and lie. They will have the motivation and ability to demand evidence and facts to justify opinions and speculation. You hear America was founded on ideas, and that is one of the ideas. Men, citizens, not a king or potentate, could govern themselves because they had the capacity for critical thinking.  Sometimes those facts and evidence are slow in being revealed to citizens, and in the meantime, perception of the truth, not the truth itself, shapes public views. The response from those who are protecting lies is, "there is no such thing as truth; there are alternative facts," which infers "just trust what we say is the truth."   Humans, by nature, being what it is, have a hard time admitting they were fooled as evidence emerges the fooling was intentionally a strategy to achieve a political or economic goal. 

Update: 9 6 23

Education is a closely related factor in determining who has enough knowledge to get a perspective of history and experience that offsets simplistic thinking.  It once was that the least educated demographic leaned heavily Democtratic.  Not now. The situation has flipped.  The least educated are MAGA Trumpsters and the more educated lean Democrats.  https://www.politico.com/interactives/2022/midterm-election-house-districts-by-education/

Some of the evidence I have relied upon

Far too little vote fraud to tip election to Trump, AP finds | AP News

Fox hosts didn’t believe 2020 election fraud claims | AP News

Trump’s judicial campaign to upend the 2020 election: A failure, but not a wipe-out (brookings.edu)

Relying on media for research is like buying a used car

 A recent posting on a private political Facebook group posed an interesting question.  It came from a person who usually was known for reproducing MAGA memes. Most memes are someone else's opinions that also ring a bell with your opinions. only it articulates it better... Liberals, this meme complained, condemn people who like doing their own research and that is what good consumers do.   What's wrong with that? If you are forwarding memes others authored is just that, a way to say I agree...  All it does is give you confidence that someone else agrees with your opinion and likes it, too. But it may deserve a rebuttal, a response, too. This one did. 

  I replied to the passed-on meme this way.:"Smart consumers also know the difference between deceptive, false, and puff advertising and seek authoritative and independent information from more than one source. . The old saying: garbage in, garbage out applies here. Too bad there is not a Better Business Bureau for politics. There is not a Federal Trade Commission demanding truth in advertising for politicians. "  

Assume you are now doing your research:  You run across a quotation or facts, or alternative facts, an opinion, and you want to sort the nuggets from the trash.  Going back to the consumer analogy, here is some advice:  treat it like buying a used car:.

Buying a used car, especially from an unlicensed individual, is a tricky business. It is buyer beware. Politicians can lie, cherry-pick and twist data, and even promote just about everything they want and it is sheltered by the First Amendment. For those doing their own research in politics, it is the wild west out there, just like buying that used car from a stranger.  The good news is you can always find someone or something to justify your preconceived notions when you do your "research".  The bad news is there is also a bunch of junk that requires some sorting out.  The sorting process is one facet of what is called "critical thinking". It takes an effort to do it.   Saying what you think is not a crime; acting it out could be, Shouting fire in a crowded theater is the famous standard that limits free speech. So far, even giving false information about Covid is not a crime, but some privately owned media companies choose to ban it either out of fear of a civil lawsuit or bad public relations. Media vehicles can also pick and choose what they permit, but not the government who cannot pass now laws forbidding free speech. Planning and directing an insurrection or violent acts also limits free speech protections.. Violent acts on behalf of a cause are not protected from free speech.  In dictatorships, saying what you think can also be a crime, but so far in our USA we still have a democracy. If your goal is to just make your case, to convince someone else, that is one thing., but it assumes the target your posting likes the source from which you got your information. That also requires some critical thinking and anticipation of pushback and rebuttal.    If your goal is to form an opinion or to seek verification of others' opinions and facts, that requires a different kind of research and critical thinking., independence of thought, flexibility to consider and reject or modify conclusions of already held notions.   That one takes some self-discipline as well as critical thinking.              Back to buying that used car.

 The gut feeling could be one indication and the old adage applies:  Would you buy a used car from this guy?  The other is asking for a report from the Better Business Bureau if the seller is a business o use whatever tools are out there...Blue books,  some advertised platforms to see this car had been in a wreck, and take it to a certified independent mechanic.  You may be dazzled by its shiny new red paint and squeaky clean interior, but what is under the hood and the drive train counts much.    Data and opinions are important, but the source that data, or facts, need to be objective. In buying this shiny used car, you may take it to a certified mechanic for analysis, one who has no stake in whether you buy it or not,  give it spin and a trial, and insist on a cooling-off period before you sign the papers. Try some of those websites that may tell you if the car had been in a wreck before or consumer reports that independently have many reviews. of that make and model.  You at least may still like the car for its looks, but you will also know what trouble or lack of it you are buying. That is being a good consumer.