Facts are elusive

The evolution of internet came with the promise of making facts available at the click of a button. But day by day facts are becoming elusive, available only to those who have the skill to trace them.

A fact can be verified by anyone. That Ashok was an Indian king in the ancient period is a known fact supported by evidences and accepted by all. But the moment we say that he was a great king, we are moving away from the fact to an opinion.

A fact speaks for itself. The same may not be true for an opinion. It may be based on facts. It may not be. The fact based opinions can prove to be helpful for a society, while the hollow, unsubstantiated ones can be very harmful.

In today’s world it is pivotal that we foster critical thinking, research skills in young minds by which they are able to distinguish between facts and opinions. To help them understand which opinions are based on facts and which facts are based on opinions so they can make informed decisions.

Published by Arun Jee

Arun Jee is a literary translator from Patna, India. He translates poems and short stories from English to Hindi and also from Hindi to English. His translation of a poetry collection entitled Deaf Republic by a leading contemporary Ukrainian-American poet, Ilya Kaminski, was published by Pustaknaama in August 2023. Its title in Hindi is Bahara Gantantra. His other book is on English Grammar titled Basic English Grammar, published in April 2023. It is is an outcome of his experience of teaching English over more than 35 years. Arun Jee has an experience of editing and creating articles on English Wikipedia since 2009. He did his MA in English and PhD in American literature from Patna University. He did an analysis of the novels of a post war American novelist named Mary McCarthy for his PhD

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