how (as a layperson) am I meant to figure out who is lying regarding a heavily politicised subject? Blindly trusting the "consensus" or media or government in a certain civilisation with a particular state-ideology and during a particular political climate is retarded. no one is above this issue, literally everyone acknowledges this is an issue regardless of who they are (e.g. Americans might distrust a Chinese consensus on an issue, former Eastern Bloc nations had different consensuses before and after the fall of communism, etc.). It's easy to identify what the politicised topics are that conflict with a particular ideology or agenda, but it's not easy to get at the truth. Reading the talk page of wikipedia articles on essentially any controversial subject has fucked with my ability to trust whatever "reliable sources" say.