the left needs to have the same unrelenting conviction that the right has about their claims. if your criteria for "truth" is as high as the standards of empirical evidence for scientific claims or the journalistic standards of 'reputable' sources for reporting 'facts', you have already foreclosed your curiosity and resigned yourself to clinging to a consensus 'reality' that died long ago. you aren't a scientist or an academic or a journalist, so if you place your bar for conclusions as high as one you are surrendering to outsource your thinking to institutional agents and never reach conclusions yourself. and if you are either of those, you are first a person with principles before all else. in any case, more important than clinging to some unattainable ideal of objective knowledge, the only thing of any consequence is your actions in the world.