Things That Exist

When you talk about things, make sure you’re talking about things that exist.

When you read articles, look at the words they use and the way they describe what they are talking about to see if that thing actually exists.

This might sound stupid, but almost every single news headline I see is about something that doesn’t exist. Let’s take a common example that isn’t about any current events. How many times have you seen a headline that says, “Scientists prove….” But there is no such group called “scientists.” That’s not a thing. It’s not even a term that requires proof. I could call myself a scientist tomorrow and nobody could prove it true or false.

Most of the things that news articles talk about are things that sound like they exist, but in reality are not actually a thing. If somebody says “the so and so movement,” ask yourself, “Is that an actual organization that has a concrete existence, or just a fiction created by enough news stories saying the same words over and over?”

What do you do with these articles? Just skip them. They contain non-data. Talking about a thing that doesn’t exist isn’t being done to inform you. There’s no good reason to do that, especially for professional journalists who have the time, resources, and skills to get specific about what they are actually talking about. It’s not an accident that an article is written that way. It’s intentional, and the only thing I can imagine is that it’s an attempt to manipulate you for reasons best known to the newspaper’s editor.