The 4th anniversary of ‘alternative facts’

A few days ago (January 22, 2021) we marked the fourth anniversary since world audiences were first exposed to the idea of "alternative facts." That anniversary came two days after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took their oaths in a socially distanced inauguration in front of 400,000 flags. Four years ago, on January 22, 2017, Donald Trump's counselor Kellyanne Conway used the term "alternative facts" to describe the false statements made by press secretary Sean Spicer regarding the attendance numbers of Trump's inauguration. Spicer had claimed that Trump's inaugural ceremony had drawn the "largest audience to ever witness an inauguration - period - both in person and around the globe." But an aerial image that was circulating at the time showed large amounts of empty space in the crowd, clearly undermining Spicer's claim, particularly when compared with...