Alternative facts and the popularity of  George Orwell’s novel “1984” may be rising, but what exactly are alternative facts, and how do they differ from facts?
The Oxford Living Dictionary defines a fact as “a thing known or proved to be true” or, when reporting news, “information used as evidence.” 
On the other hand, a lie as defined by the Oxford Living Dictionary, is “an intentionally false statement” involving deception, and has no basis in fact or reality.
Davide Orsini, a Mississippi State University assistant professor of history, said the debate on alternative facts is not something new. 
“As bizarre as alternative facts may seem, they have existed for some time and have always found favor with political regimes who use them as a tool to challenge facts and realities that do not align with their policies,” Orsini said.
Orsini primarily studies the history of science and technology, but also studies the Cold War. One of his many research interests includes secrecy and the production of ignorance.
What exactly classifies something as a fact, Orsini said, can vary significantly depending on the period, field, country or region of the world. This is because different societies use different systems for establishing what they consider to be knowledge.
“We privilege the truth because we think that, through that transparency and knowledge, people can understand what their preferences are and behave accordingly,” Orsini said.
Orsini said when knowledge and truth become questioned, it can lead to the deterioration of democratic principles. This can happen when popular participation no longer chooses to regard scientific facts and political preferences take precedence over established and agreed upon facts.
Policies built on these premises can become  scary, Orsini said. He related this to the world Orwell lived in.
During his lifetime, Orwell lived through two world wars and witnessed the rise of communism in Russia. 
In the years between World War I and World War II, Orwell observed Josef Stalin’s own brand of communism, Stalinism, in which the Russian government ruled through systematic terror, total control and surveillance. 
 
Issues related to Stalinism such as control and surveillance play heavily in Orwell’s book “1984,” and its main antagonist character and symbol “Big Brother.” 
Orsini said Orwell’s themes of control and surveillance appear more relevant to the National Security Agency and Edward Snowden than they do to alternative facts.
Michael Clifford, professor of philosophy at MSU, said “1984” has parallels with today through the language, newspeak and doublethink, which the authoritarian government uses to control the population.
Newspeak controls thought through language and reduces language to simple terms eliminating any nuance. Doublethink directly controls thought through language and allows the acceptance of two ideas which contradict each other. 
Clifford said the use of Twitter by President Donald Trump is a great way to demonstrate someone using newspeak. 
“Language like ‘huge’ and ‘great’ involve no sophistication or complexity,” Clifford said.
A recent example of what Clifford calls “classic doublethink,” involved Kellyanne Conway and the repeated misinformation she gave to the news media which she called  alternative facts. 
Coupled with alternative facts, Clifford said, is the president’s attempts to undermine the freedom of the press by discrediting it as dishonest and biased.
Clifford said the press, to some degree, is responsible because they constantly repeat things that do not matter. Journalists have recently been willing to call out guests for saying things on their programs.
As a professor of social and political philosophy, Clifford said the United States has not seen this kind of behavior from the highest levels of government.
Clifford said Steve Bannon’s, assistant to the president, comments to the media about shutting up and listening, is a classic fascist gesture. In other words,  they do not want the media reporting stories negatively about them.
Before becoming the president’s chief White House strategist, Bannon served as the chief executive officer for Breitbart News, a far-right news outlet which published numerous stories containing falsehoods and conspiracy theories. However, news filled with falsehoods and conspiracy theories do not fall exclusively to a single site. 
Clifford said verifying information online can be a difficult task. Many times people get a story from a slanted news site. They then visit another slanted news site which confirms the first slanted story. 
Clifford said the propagation of fake news has become such an issue that many people do not know what is fake news and what is not, making it “dangerous” and “troubling.”
“People don’t know what the truth is anymore,” Clifford said.
Marty Price, an English instructor at MSU who taught students “1984,” said Facebook is a good example of how misinformation and fake facts can easily spread. Not caring about where information comes from or what sources are used is an issue. If they are left unaddressed, lies can multiply and spread like viruses.
Price said he sees a parallel with the book and today by how Orwell captured the notion one must have an enemy.
Philip Poe, an assistant professor of communication, said he does not believe, logically, that alternative facts can exist. Something is either a fact and can be verified, or it is not.
Things which can be verified may not always be true, Poe said, nor can all things be verified which are true. He said even when something cannot be verified, there usually exists some type of crossover between the two. 
Poe said the term alternative facts is funny because it has different meanings to different people. People do not want to believe things which challenge their beliefs and worldview.
The real danger of alternative facts, he said, comes when people believe that even when something is true they can refuse to believe it. When one person says something another person believes, it helps reaffirm their beliefs and label those who disagree as wrong.
Poe said people need media literacy to combat the problem of misinformation.
“We need to emphasize that when we are talking to people about news and information and digital narratives, that you have to weigh the evidence,” Poe said.
This does not mean one should not have an opinion, but that they should exercise caution when reading news stories. Many times they are not news stories at all and do not involve actual reporting. 
Poe advises that whenever you see a questionable article online, especially a social media website, find the original source and compare it with another article from a reputable news website.