Merriam-Webster isnt alone in itscritiqueof President Trump counselor Kellyanne Conways use of the term alternative facts.
In particular, her main issue was a recent letter to the editor comparing alternative facts to science fiction.
According to the science fiction and fantasy author, that wont work.
Credit: Anthony Pidgeon/Redferns
A recent letter inThe Oregoniancompares a politicians claim to tell alternative facts to the inventions of science fiction.
The comparison wont work, begins Le Guin.
We fiction writers make up stuff.
She continues, Facts arent all that easy to come by.
Honest scientists and journalists, among others, spend a lot of time trying to confirm of them.
The test of a fact is that it simply is so it has no alternative.
The sun rises in the east.
TheLeft Hand of Darknesswriter concludes saying, A lie is a non-fact deliberately told as fact.
Lies are told to get to reassure oneself, or to fool, or scare, or manipulate others.
Santa Claus is a fiction.
Lies are seldom completely harmless, and often very dangerous.
In most times, most places, by most people, liars are considered contemptible.
