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> Half of the statements were in fact true, such as Australia is approximately equal in area to the continental United States, whereas the other half were fals
by thisisit 9y ago
> Half of the statements were in fact true, such as Australia is approximately equal in area to the continental United States, whereas the other half were false, such as Zachary Taylor was the first president to die in office (it was William Henry Harrison)
I don't know much of American history but isn't this a high bar for finding if people believe "fake news". I mean most people wont know general knowledge perfectly so expecting them to believe a particular lie is perfectly reasonable.
What is concerning about fake news is people believing simpler lies like the stuff Trump says. An example about walls and whatnot.
- Wehrdo 9y agoI found that an odd choice of examples, too. I at least have some sense of the relative sizes of the U.S. and Australia, but without specific knowledge, have no idea about which president died in office first. It's likely I would be more willing to believe a fact if I have nothing to refute it with. I do hope the questions were randomized.
- mseebach 9y agoThere's also something to be said for the importance of a certain fact. It's pretty harmless to be poorly informed about presidential history, unless you're a teacher of the subject or about to take a test. Significantly less so to be poorly informed about whether or not a presidential candidate is running a child sex ring out of a pizzaria.