In the era of fake news, questionable education outcomes and blurred lines between factual information and opinion pieces comes this not surprising but challenging information. Most people can’t regularly decipher factual information from opinions. This according to a nationwide study conducted by the Pew Research Center.
Pew posed ten statements, five factual and five opinion, to over 5,000 adults and asked if each statement was fact or opinion. Only 26% were able to identify all factual statements with 35% able to identify all opinion statements. This painfully explains the problem we have informationally in society today. Candidly, not to brag, I don’t think this is anything worthy of bragging about, I was able to nail all ten with a minute. It’s not complicated. Pew made them available for you to test yourself online. Here’s a link: http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/news-statements-quiz/
It’s a good quick way to see where you stand and if you’re being an objective observer yourself. I’ve always believed it’s critical to establish the facts of any story being discussed, the premise prior to offering an opinion. This leads me to believe that it’s more important than ever before. Take, read and share this and many of my stories. Real information and clear perspective is evidently in short supply. We’re all welcome to our opinions based on facts but while there are two sides to stories there is just one side to every fact.