Can You Tell Fact From Opinion?
Here’s a test. Can you correctly identify which of the following statements are facts and which are opinions?
Take the Test
Star Trek is better than Star Wars.
AI-generated art is not copyright protected.
Edgar Allan Poe is a pedophile.
If you eat the leftover meatloaf in my refrigerator, you will get sick.
You have 30 seconds. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Image courtesy Nightcafe/@maximus
Well? Did you correctly identify the lone opinion in the four statements above? There is just one. There is also only one fact. The other two statements are something different.
Answers
“Star Trek is better than Star Wars” is an opinion. It is my opinion. I think I am right.
“AI-generated art is not copyright protected” is a fact as of the writing of this blog post. Look it up. It is true.
“Edgar Allan Poe is a pedophile” is neither a fact nor an opinion. It is simply an incorrect and poorly written statement.
“If you eat the leftover meatloaf in my refrigerator, you will get sick” is a hypothesis based on facts.
Image by Carla Antico Bumstead/Midjourney
#1 - Calling All Trekkies
“Star Trek is better than Star Wars”
I love throwing this one out there on social media. It always gets a reaction. Apparently, some people feel very strongly about Star Wars. They are the ones with light sabers in their closet and adult Star Wars LEGOS. They are quite rabid and easily goaded.
Us Trekkies, however, would never get all bent-of-shape at the words “Star Wars is better than Star Trek.” We are too logical and way too busy exploring strange new worlds.
My statement about Star Trek and Star Wars is my opinion. The word “better” is utterly subjective and, therefore, can’t even enter the realm of facts. In my opinion, far too many people out there on the internet don’t seem to understand this. Subjective, personal shit is not fact. It’s opinion.
Image by Carla Antico Bumstead courtesy an unknown artist/s.
#2 Just the facts, please
Now for a fact:
“AI-generated art is not copyright protected.”
Facts are true. They can be verified or proven. For the above quote about AI art, I do not need to list a source. I said it, as evidenced by my byline, and it is easily verifiable. (You can’t verify an opinion.)
These days, it is super easy to verify facts. You just have to have this really awesome tool known as “google.”
Because I am using AI-generated art here in this opinion column, I needed to make sure I would not get sued for copyright infringement. So I googled it and found enough factual information very quickly to determine that I am safe. AI-generated art is not copyright protected. Fact.
In my opinion, far too many people these days can’t recognize opinions from facts. The internet has made it extremely easy for virtually anyone to publish their opinions. Even the stuff that is supposed to be “news” is actually just a bunch of opinions with a few facts thrown in.
By the way, that last sentence was an opinion. This is an opinion column.
Image by Carla Antico Bumstead via unknown artist/s.
#3 Just Wrong
“Edgar Allan Poe is a pedophile.”
This is neither fact nor opinion. It’s just an incorrect statement. It’s also poorly written.
In the first place, Poe is dead. So using the word “is” is incorrect. But regardless of that grammar problem, it’s still not right. While Poe did marry his 13-year-old first cousin, it was perfectly legal at the time. He was never arrested for or convicted of pedophilia.
In my opinion, there is no excuse for not checking your facts before you post something online. Google it. Spend a few minutes shopping around on different sites. Most of the time, it is easy to tell whether the site you are on knows what it’s talking about or not.
Also in my opinion, there are way too many poorly written statements running around on the internet these days. Poor writing makes it extra hard to figure out whether you are reading facts or something else.
WARNING - Eat the meatload in my refrigerator at your own risk.
Image by Carla Antico Bumstead via unknown artist/s.
#4 Advice
Sometimes, we think something is true but we can’t prove it or are not interested in proving it. So we say it not as fact but as conjecture or hypothesis or advice.
“If you eat the leftover meatloaf in my refrigerator, you will get sick.”
That statement is a hypothesis and is intended as advice. I made some seriously tasty meatloaf three weeks ago. There is still some left, wrapped up in aluminum foil in my refrigerator. It has mold on it. I am pretty darn sure, if you ate it, it would make you sick. Don’t eat it.
Does anyone remember Ann Landers? Probably not. Ask Ann Landers was a syndicated advice column that was a regular feature in many newspapers across North America for over 50 years. I miss it. I miss the clear delineation newspapers used to give us. News. Opinion. Advice.
In Conclusion
The internet has given virtually anyone the ability to publish virtually anything, anywhere they wish. That’s both liberating and scary. We all need to be careful out there. We all need to be able to recognize opinion from fact.
My advice? Check your facts. State your opinions as opinions. Use correct grammar. And don’t eat the meatloaf.
The author of this article, Carla Antico, has been a reporter, columnist and editor for over 20 years. All of the images that appear here were created by Carla using an AI art generator, various photo editing software and her own imagination.
Carla welcomes (and strongly encourages) readers to leave a comment. Really, it would make her very happy, even if it’s negative.
