by Derek Bateman
I RECKON the age of Fake News began in ancient Rome around Cicero’s time when the man with the magic speech was convincing the mob that black was white. He could turn any fact inside out and have a previously supportive crowd crying out for blood. Cicero used language to plant ideas in the mind and then applied rhetoric to exploit his advantage. (Just ask Anthony). It was morally dubious but it was also genius.