When finding information or quoting sources, do you find government websites a reliable source?
Depends on what you mean by government. Data from USGS or NASA is one thing, Trump is another.
Good point. I want to change my vote.
I will never trust government information again, ever since the Bovine Growth Hormone thing. The USDA forbade dairies producing non-BGH milk to advertise their milk as non-BGH. Of course, that was overturned, but it poisoned the well for me w/r/t government "information."
Individuals a big fat NO, Agencies not involved in tax collection or law enforcement - yes with a big check it first. The DEA, CIA, NSA, ATF, FBI, are all liars and have been decieving the public for decades.
I think government information is basically trustworthy… provided a free press exists to double-check the data. Once the rights and freedoms of the press are infringed, or the public trust is undermined, the bedrock of democracy is eroded, leaving the people with no check on government.
The correlations of the US empire and the Roman empire are very similar.
Hey never thought of that. The dreamers will soon have to purchase their citizenship.
When it concerns anything that could be deemed political no. There are as [agnostic.com] mentioned some things concerning disease and agriculture that are completely reliable and trustworthy.
Many times in our history politicians have abused their power while lying about their crimes unapologetically. Not all politicians are bad, but the second a good one tries to shed light on their misdeeds they will be silenced.
Er, it isn't the government that worries me. We know how it will behave and when it will be compelled to lie.
What worries me is the media's acceptance and inherent support for certain unspoken assumptions. Until we can separate the media from big money we will be subject to the class indoctrination that we have experienced all of our lives and mostly don't even realize.
It's pernicious. When anyone tries to point out holes in the indoctrination, they're written off as extremists and crackpots.
The government doesn't just mean federal. We also have state and local. Where I live there is a lot of important information from the regional governments.
@silvereyes To me it depends on who is doing the informing. Not everything is alt truth.
it's exactly the same here in the ununited kingdom, every single word out of the mouths of of every member of the conservative party is a complete lie - hateful nasty money grabbing and all in favour of multi nationals and lining their own pockets and at the expense of us slaves
My vote would have been yes up until this administration
This government (the White House) has given us Fake News. And that term has become the defense of all who resist the truth. So go figure.
I retired from USDA as an engineer. We used tools developed by other agencies, and in some cases developed jointly. My field was hydraulic engineering. I have been retired for quite a while, but still use tools from my agency, from the USGS, Corp of Engineers, Federal Highways, etc. I trust the water data collected by the USGS, the weather data from NOAA, etc. When I produce an engineering report that has a water surface profile that I used the Corp Hec-Ras program, I reference it. The Corp computer programs are available for engineers to use at no fee.
Do I trust anything coming out of the white house or congress? Absolutely not.
I trust my government to be truthful on the release of information that is verifiable from public data but, not so much if it is not. Too, often agendas of right and centrist politics get in the way off truth.