Everybody Knows
This letter to the editor, by Cheri Evjen, appeared in the Hudson Star Observer on July 10, 2025.
Often, we hear the phrase “everybody knows” right before some dubious information.
As a rhetorical device, these words should set off alarms in our heads, because the statement which follows often has never been proven. And it’s often untrue. Accepting such statements at face value is often a mistake. Instead, ask “everybody knows” people, in a respectful manner, to prove what they are saying.
Whenever you read or hear “it has been reported,” “people have said,” “according to sources”, or “Fox has learned,” without a specific person or group identified as a source, the warning alarms in your mind should be going off again. Fox and other media outlets that use carefully chosen, vague statements not attributed to a source are deliberately creating the illusion of facts when none exist. Then, these vague, unproven statements are repeated over and over again until their viewers or readers accept them as truth.
Fox partnered with Donald Trump to lie about the 2020 election. Trump’s Department of Homeland Security pronounced the election “the most secure in history.” Attorney General William Barr rejected claims of widespread voter fraud, as did every judge who ruled on them. Yet, Fox relentlessly broadcast what they knew were lies about Dominion Voting Systems. Fox paid $787.5 billion to settle a defamation suit, admitted to spreading lies and fired Tucker Carlson.
Lying has been an essential part of Trump’s political strategy. His former White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, revealed that Trump told her, “It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie, just say it enough and people will believe you.” Grisham observed that Trump “has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth.” That is why she refused to host press briefings because “unlike my boss, I never wanted to stand behind the podium and lie.”
Thomas Jefferson believed that “a well-informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.” Please gather information carefully, question “everybody knows” statements and above all, don’t accept information from proven liars. Please be a well-informed citizen and do your part to fight the spread of tyranny in America.