Editing 2129: 1921 Fact Checker

{{comic
| number    = 2129
| date      = March 27, 2019
| title     = 1921 Fact Checker
| image     = 1921_fact_checker.png
| titletext = POLITIFACT SAYS: MOSTLY WHATEVER
}}

==Explanation==

This comic shows a 1921 [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29977721/really_no_importance/ newspaper article] with information about pilgrims coming to America. [[Randall]] has a 'grudging respect' for the author, who feels the information is so unimportant that no fact-checking has been done, and has enough integrity to inform the reader of this.

The [https://www.newspapers.com/title_9529/kansas_city_sun/ ''Kansas City Sun''] referenced by the comic was a newspaper in Kansas City, Kansas that ran from 1892 to 1924(?). (Interestingly, there was also a [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90061556/#tab=tab_newspapers ''Kansas City Sun''] in Kansas City, Missouri that ran from 1908 to 1924.)

{{w|PolitiFact}}, mentioned in the title text, is a fact-checking project which evaluates the truth or falsity of various statements made by politicians and other people involved in U.S. politics. The positions on its rating scale are "True", "Mostly True", "Half True", "Mostly False",  "False", and "Pants on Fire", the last position being reserved for the most egregiously "false" claims. "Mostly Whatever", the rating identified in the title text, is presented by Randall as a rating that could apply to claims that have so little relevance or interest that they are not worth checking. See also [[1712: Politifact]].

As for the purported fact, a modern summary of the Pilgrims' supplies indicates that the Pilgrims did bring all the listed items of food and drink, though it does not make it clear whether these supplies were required or what quantities were brought. Compare the newspaper list ('eight bushels of corn meal, two bushels of oatmeal, two gallons of vinegar and a gallon each of oil and brandy') to the list from http://mayflowerhistory.com/provision-lists ('Biscuit, beer, salt, (dried) beef, salt pork, oats, peas, wheat, butter, sweet oil, mustard seed, ling or cod fish, "good cheese", vinegar, aqua-vitae, rice, bacon, cider'). Note: 'corn meal' = 'wheat'; 'oatmeal' = 'oats'; 'vinegar' = 'vinegar'; 'oil' = 'sweet oil'; 'brandy' = 'aqua-vitae.'

==Transcript==
:[In a panel with light-gray background is a block of text:]
:An investigator claims to have discovered in some dusty archives that back in the days when the pilgrims landed each person coming to America from England was required to bring with them eight bushels of corn meal, two bushels of oatmeal, two gallons of vinegar and a gallon each of oil and brandy.

:In view of the fact that nothing of importance hinges on the truth or falsity of this statement, not much time need be consumed to ascertain whether this is truth or fiction.
:::—Kansas City Sun
:::Friday, May 6<sup>th</sup>, 1921

:[Caption below the panel]
:I have a grudging respect for this 1921 newspaper fact-checker.

==Trivia==
*The exact newspaper [[Randall]] used is [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/477982773/ this].

{{comic discussion}}