Having read my column over the years, you might wonder what I look like.
Well, I’m 6 feet 4 and I weigh 175 pounds. I’m 31 years old, have a full head of jet-black hair, I don’t wear glasses and I have an IQ of 168.
That doesn’t jibe with the photo that accompanies my column each week.
That’s because I am lying.
Well, not lying, exactly. I am presenting alternative facts about the way I look.
You’ve probably heard those two words – alternative facts – a lot lately.
President Donald Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer was caught by reporters telling a series of whoppers about the size of the crowd gathered to witness the president’s inauguration ceremonies.
Leaping to Spicer’s defense was White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, who insisted Spicer was not lying. He was merely offering “alternative facts.”
The reporter rightly pointed out that alternative facts are falsehoods; that is, lies.
The dictionary bears this out. It defines “fact” as “a piece of information presented as objective reality.”
Since this dust-up, people have been rightly wondering how they can believe anything the administration says.
That’s a legitimate question.
Do top Trump staffers not see or understand what is a fact and what is a falsehood?
Or, do they actually believe that what they want to be true is true?
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, judge the administration by its future relationship to facts.
But, beyond that, I’m perplexed, bothered really, by the circumstances that gave rise to “alternative facts” in the first place.
You’ll remember it all started with an angered press secretary berating the press for allegedly under-reporting the number of spectators at the inauguration.
Why so angry?
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Why is the crowd estimate so important?
Estimates of the size of a crowd at big events always vary. It is difficult to accurately count crowds.
Why does it matter to the administration anyway?
An inauguration should make the inaugurated happy, not appear as enraged victims of a conspiracy.
It’s an odd – and kind of scary – way to behave.
Not a fact. Certainly not alternative facts.
Just my opinion.
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.