Fake news stories are fun to read and write.

Two exchange students and a potbelly pig named Jerry were the only Whidbey Island residents to participate in the women’s march over the weekend.

A man who calls himself “The Night Ranger” claims that he won the popular vote through a write-in campaign to become the new Island County commissioner in District 2. Commissioner Jill Johnson accepts defeat and moves to Hawaii to teach hula dancing.

Oak Harbor Councilman Rick Almberg denies that he ever advocated frugality with taxpayers’ money. When presented with video evidence, he claims it was actually his twin brother Stan who was impersonating him. He said the city should go on a spending spree and purchase “really cool sunglasses” and a bottle of spray tan for every resident.

Oak Harbor’s city engineer realizes that science doesn’t work and that the sewage treatment plant being built downtown won’t treat dirty toilet water. He instead decides that the wastewater should be dumped into the grass at Windjammer Park. The cloudy water and especially the solids are really good fertilizer, he tells the city council.

Is any of this true? Not in the slightest, but does it matter in a world of fake news and “alternative facts” — a phrase made infamous by one of President Trump’s aides?

Of course it matters. The community would and should hold the Whidbey News-Times accountable for made-up stories, even stories they want to be true or are supportive of a particular agenda.

By the same token, every citizen should hold the new president and members of his administration accountable every time they present an “alternative fact.” If you support Trump and his agenda, then there should be no reason for anything but straight-forward honesty. After all, brutal honesty without concern for political correctness is what many people appreciate about him.

Any blurring of the line between fact and fiction is harmful not only to his message but to a democracy in which citizens debate facts, not fiction.