To lie, according to Merriam-Webster, is “to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive.”

It is the seventh of the nine words in that definition that has historically stopped journalists from describing demonstrably false statements as lies. Absent an ability to read minds, intent is generally harder to verify than statements of alleged fact.

Behavioral psychology teaches us that people believe things for many reasons. Most parents have had the experience of a child coming home from school and declaring something to be true that is easily proved false. When the child is asked the source of the information, he or she will generally shrug and say, “I heard it at school.” These days, it is as likely the source was a post on the internet.

Usually, there is no intent to deceive in these cases. The child is simply misinformed and not yet equipped with the knowledge or instinct to verify unsubstantiated claims.

Read more at The Boulder Daily Camera