Just The Facts Please!

Ah! But, just what are facts? So many people claim to know, but what do they really know? Our illustrious, learned politicians love to smile into cameras every day, more so during election seasons like present day, and rattle off facts like crazy. But, where did they get their facts? Professors and teachers stand before hundreds of students daily and belch out facts regarding mathematics, the natural sciences, the social beginnings of our communities, about the very use of our language arts. But, again, where, oh where did these so called facts really originate?

Well, that's my point.

You see, what we hear stated oh so often as facts are nothing more than the the opinions (blabberings?), the suspect findings, the somehow derived determinations of other people, and in a lot of cases, fools and scamps. Yet, written down on parchment paper, published, and appropriately codified these ramblings become facts to be handed down, read and regurgitated in classrooms, and pushed on and on, by degreed parrots.

I will use a very common, universal example. I will, right this second, tell you that the man you know as Jesus the Christ, was but a simple man, Jesus, the Nazarene, who was indeed crucified (murdered), not because God so commanded it, but for no other reason than other men, clerics and politicians, were jealous and fearful of him.

Is that a fact? Well, it must be because it is so stated in the Jefferson Bible. And, a bible can't be wrong, can it? But wait, another bible (yes, there are many), one with no clear author, states that Jesus the Christ was the very Son of God, given, sacrificed to the sinners of the world as a savior. Can that be true? Again, there it is in black and white, published and codified. Taught, and preached, and shared. It must be true, right?

So, how does one know which is the two is the true fact, and which is the bunk? Well, the only true fact is a statement that can be supported by evidence (and no, another man's opinion does not qualify as evidence). If archeological evidence, hard physical evidence exist to support the statement, then the statement can be said to be factual. (Homework: Research the two examples above and decide for yourself.)

Here's another example, Pat Robertson once stated as fact that an emancipated woman would turn into a witch and murder her entire family. While it's a sad fact women have killed their children, and certainly, many have killed their husbands. And while all is well supported by hard evidence (finger prints on a smoking gun), it cannot be used to support Robertson's statement; for one thing women are not emancipated, and another, witches are fictitious biblical characters created by Augustine in the 400s. But, Robertson has is a theory; and, theories can be easily (sometimes) proven true or false. So, I say, let's emancipate women now and we can all stand and watch what happens together.

(For more on Pat Robertson's views on women and other topics visit: The Top 10: Facebook 'vomit' button for gays and other Pat Robertson quotes http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/09/us/pat-robertson-facebook-remark/)