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Not sure why people have a problem with this this term, as if it's not a valid concept.
All "alternative facts" means is when someone, either purposely or inadvertently cherry picks bits and pieces of information to tell a story, that, when viewed in a different way with all the facts, (or differently picked ones) may tell a very different story.
A simple example of how alternative facts manifest themselves in daily life might be when an accident, robbery or other event is witnessed by several different people from different angles, distances and levels of distraction, or attitudes about the event.
Each separate person may tell a different version of the event that they witnessed, without knowing or seeing the things from a different perspective.
But what's worse is when that perspective is purposely biased and the event is decribed with cherry picked information in a way that supports that bias and only that bias.
"Alternative facts" are simply the manifestation of our biased perspective.
"Alternative facts" refers to the specific sort of claims that come out of the mouths of Kellyanne Conway, Spicer, Trump, etc.
A fact is truthful. I am 53 years old. This is a fact. If I say I'm 45 years old, that's a lie - or an "alternative fact". I can't even believe this is an actual discussion. If I say, "I wish I was 35 again", that's neither a fact or a lie, because it's not an absolute. Saying, "35 is the best age" is an opinion. It's not complicated.
Another term for "alternate facts" or "Fake news" is propaganda. Propaganda is a set of fictions designed to further a particular, frequently authoritarian, political program.
Most of the "facts" provided by this White House and many Republican politicians, are imaginative and frequently absurd, statements designed to glorify the regime of King Donald the first and all the super wealthy plutocrats that are using his delusions to manipulate his ego for their own benefit. All The Donald requires is continuous adulation from everybody.
Well, OP, taken at face value, you are correct. There is probably nothing wrong with the term "alternative facts."
A newspaper can report the facts that they gather and leave some of those facts out. Another newspaper can come in an report a different set of facts that maybe the first report left out. So, you have a set of facts and someone reports one subset and another reports another subset or the alternative to the first. But all are facts.
This particular reference from Kellyanne Conway referred to a situation that was not "alternative facts" but she used that term to cover of a belief or perception. If memory serves me, I think it had to do with the inauguration crowds size? If so, they did not present an alternative fact. Trump "believed" his crowd was larger. It was proven not to be. So, not a fact but more of wish.
In the instance where Conway used the term and it came to public light, the alternate facts regarding the of the inauguration were refuted by photographic evidence, figures from the Metro and the US Secret Service. The 4 of 4 falsehoods mentioned by Chuck Todd were:
“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,”
Photographs refute this.
Spicer said 420,000 used the D.C. Metro public transit on Jan. 20, 2017, compared with 317,000 for President Obama’s 2013 inaugural.
The Washington Post reported Metro figures for Trump’s inaugural around 570,557 took trips in the system between 4 a.m and midnight on Friday. Inauguration day 2013 drew more, at about 782,000.
"This is the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall," Spicer said, claiming that this "had the effect of highlighting areas people were not standing whereas in years past the grass eliminated this visual."
Photographs show coverings were used for Obama's second inauguration in 2013.
"This was also the first time that fencing and magnetometers went as far back on the Mall, preventing hundreds of thousands of people from being able to access the Mall as quickly as they had in inaugurations past," Spicer said.
A United States Secret Service spokesperson told CNN, no magnetometers were used on the Mall.
Spicer was correct that Zeke Miller tweeted that the bust of MLK was removed (which he later corrected). In relation to that Spicer tweeted something his boss should heed:
... if the alternate facts can be disputed they are not admissible.
Quite so.
It would also be helpful that people would admit when their contention has been demonstrated incorrect. Real journalists would do so, schmucks would perhaps not.
There is only one Truth. Never two or three, so when someone presents "alternative" facts in public discourse, they are actually only contentions. The truth may or may not ever be known with certainty, but there is only one.
a severe mental disorder in which thought and emotions are so impaired that contact is lost with external reality.
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If I say, "I wish I was 35 again", that's neither a fact or a lie, because it's not an absolute. Saying, "35 is the best age" is an opinion. It's not complicated.
Pants on Fire
