A couple of months ago, I wrote an article called "Knowledge Is Power: Read The News" because I felt that it was very important to be informed on the happenings in the world. Little did I know what was going to happen to the news in America following the 2016 Election. Bias in the news is nothing new, but the blatant lies and half-truths that are blown out of proportion is something new to me. Of course, there have been lies told to the media and American citizens over the years that cause us to stop and question the credibility of our news sources, such as Brian Williams's false account of his time in the Iraq war, but rarely do we see such blatant falsehoods come from our country's leaders.

When Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to the president, introduced what she called "alternative facts" in response to the turn-out at President Trump's inauguration, it sent my head spinning. As a writer, I have spent much of my time consulting the dictionary and thesaurus, and when thinking about the definitions of "alternative" and "fact," it confuses me that someone would put them together. If you don't have your pocket dictionary handy, a quick Google search should point you to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster defines "alternative" as "different from the usual or conventional" while a "fact" is defined as "a piece of information presented as having objective reality." Merriam-Webster also has a built-in thesaurus, which tells us that synonyms for "alternative" include "pick, preference, or selection" while synonyms for "fact" include "actuality or reality," and a related word to "fact" is "truth." Notice how these two words put together carry suspicious meaning. A selection of reality or truth is basically what this phrase means. If you were to Google the definition of the phrase "alternative facts," you might stumble upon Urban Dictionary's page which unanimously defines it as "lies." In response to Conway's phrase, the Merriam-Webster Twitter account tweeted their definition of "fact." Comedian Randy Rainbow also had a few words to say... or sing.

I know this is old news, but it's relevant because these "alt facts" are continually popping up. They are created by the people we are supposed to put our absolute trust in: the president, his advisors, and our press secretary. Just recently, Conway spoke about "The Bowling Green Massacre" which she used to defend President Trump's Travel Ban. She claimed, "two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.” As it has been proven, there was no such massacre. But many people accepted this as fact without looking further into it, which is a problem because it wasn't real. Let's take a look at the facts. Again, all it takes is a thorough Google search. According to The United States Department of Justice, there were, in fact, two Iraqi citizens living in Bowling Green, KY who plead guilty to terrorism. They confessed to attempting, (the operative word being attempting), to "ship weapons and money from [the] U.S. to Iraqi Insurgents" in order to harm/kill U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq. What did not occur was a massacre. The good news is, Conway did not tell a complete lie. She just embellished the truth to such an extent that she changed the meaning of the event, which is basically like a lie, or as she might like to call it, an "alternative fact."

I know that it is inconvenient to go searching the Internet to confirm what we hear in the news, but at this point, it seems we have to take everything with a grain of salt. One of the problems with Conway's mention of the "Bowling Green Massacre" is the way she framed it. She took a fact and twisted it by adding the word "massacre." As defined by Merriam-Webster, a "massacre" is the act or instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty." The biggest question to be asked is why she called it a massacre. Was she told by someone to repeat this in the news in response to President Trump's Travel Ban? Did she say it, knowing that it was a lie, but hoping that others would readily believe it? (Which many did as shown by a recent poll in which "by a 51/23 margin Trump voters say that the Bowling Green Massacre shows why Trump's immigration policy is needed.") Or did Conway use the word, which carries such an awful and bloody connotation, as a scare tactic? What does this say about her credibility?

How does it make American citizens feel now that we have to double check what is reported on the news? What doesn this mean going forward?

Please make yourself aware of what is happening in the U.S. and the world. Ignorance is not always bliss - don't be afraid to search for the truth.