April 22, 2017 is Earth Day. It is also the day of the March for Science, which many are looking forward to as another opportunity to mount a massive show of resistance to the fact-deprived administration of President Donald J. Trump.

As unfortunate as it may be, the only yardstick most news media will use to judge the effectiveness or impact of this march, like all other marches, is how big the crowd was. Maybe the only other thing that will get any attention is how white and male the crowd was, or wasn’t.

Expect a flood of fake news to try to get out in front of the March for Science with photos of small crowds, unruly protesters causing violence, and probably images portraying marchers as stoned slackers.

To help you sort out what’s real from what’s fake, here are a couple of tips.

It is a cloudy, rainy day in Washington, DC.

The more savvy fake news will probably pay attention to the weather reports and try to match their fake photos to the conditions of the day. But many more will have no regard even for this basic fact of the march, nor will their audience. So keep a lookout for sunny photos and you’ll know it’s a fake.

They’re not all a bunch of dirty hippies

The march hasn’t even happened yet, so I can’t say at this point how many marchers look like they’re protesting showers and otherwise worship dirt. But at this point, it is safe to say that there will be NONE. So keep a lookout for photos of dirty hippies and you’ll know it’s a fake.

They’re scientists, not anarchists

Again, the march hasn’t begun yet, so only time will tell whether the march will descend into a Thunderdome-style firestorm. But again it’s safe to say that it will NOT. So keep a lookout for photos of dumpster fires, flag burning and window smashing and you’ll know it’s a fake.

That’s all. Go forth and bust some fake news with this knowledge!

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