If the government is fake, news is fake, and science is fake - and when cherry-picking them is fake too - then how to cope with the deluge of System manipulation?

There is no point in combing-through the mass media, or scientific journals, and trying to filter-out the truth; because there is no such thing as a truth-filter! 

If there was a truth-filter, there would be no need for honesty - and clearly there is need; as we see all round us!

Yet so much of what purports to be alternative or 'based' mass-social media; does little but (post by post, article by article, day after day...) cherry-pick through fake-news and fake-science, fake-government reports, fake-polls; sifting sources that are Not Even Trying to be truthful. 

All this activity is therefore (de facto, if not by intent) just part-of The System; part of The System of attempted manipulation and control - even when, as individuals, the people concerned are genuinely trying to present an independent, alternative, anti-Establishment perspective.

It seems one cannot be sufficiently paranoid about this stuff! Yet he who touches pitch will be defiled; and to engage with dishonesty for much time, has an almost inevitably corrupting effect - at least that's what I observe, in myself and in others. 

Yet we must judge: we must evaluate; we are creatures of values, and the vast amount of incoming stuff of our world therefore must-be - and shall-be, whether we like it or not - evaluated. And evaluated By Us! (I mean evaluated by you and me, specifically.)

So we are compelled to form some kind of judgment on even the most stupid and insubstantial material of our virtual world - showbiz/ royal romances and scandals, show trials, manufactured war news, baseless pseudo-science etc, etc. 

But we should expend the minimum of time and effort on this unavoidable work, in order to avoid corruption.

How can this possibly happen? So Much garbage, and yet we cannot help forming judgments on it!

It seems impossible - yet as Christians we know it is possible - because God has placed us and sustains us in this situation; and therefore we know-for-sure that we personally can do it; not perfectly, of course, but sufficiently well to attain salvation and to learn-spiritually. 

I think the answer lies in first adopting an Us and Them attitude to the world, to this mortal life; where the two sides are defined as those allied with God and creation, versus those who oppose. 

We must trust something and somebody, and should trust Us, not them. 

But we should be ready to accept that the category of Us (those we know sufficiently to trust) is a very small one; as befits a species who have spent most of our history in very small, clannish societies. 

The category of Us is therefore likely to be one containing perhaps a dozen or a score, as it always has been; and indeed in the mega-mass societies of today the category of Us in The West is probably going to be smaller than it would have been 1000, 5000, or 10,000 years ago; or in other parts of the world. If we can trust a handful of people to provide us with informed, competent, and honest evaluations - we are doing-well.  

Secondly, by bearing in mind that this mortal life is about learning, which is often a matter of making mistakes and learning from them. 

In practice; this means making a clear and explicit (at least with ourselves) judgment -- then being honest about whether or not it stands-up to further experience; and being prepared to abandon that which does not stand-up. 

This, in turn, means that while coherence is very important, we should not allow a fear of inconsistency (e.g. being accused of changing our minds) with respect to our past evaluations to stand in the path of learning. 

As of 2023 in The West, this means that most learning will be in the direction of becoming an ever smaller minority! 

Those who claim to be learning by joining-with more and more System-evaluations (e.g. the way that the mainstream Christian churches have claimed to be learning over recent decades!) - are in truth merely converging with the side of evil. 

Such people are incrementally being-corrupted; incrementally rejecting the Us which is the side of God and divine creation; and joining the side of Them who oppose Good.  

In sum: if we find ourselves believing those whom we do not trust, or joining the majority (or large minority) view with respect to an evaluation; then we are almost certainly making a mistake.