Jake Tapper warns grads: ‘The very notion of empirical fact is being attacked and corroded’

CNN’s Jake Tapper is urging students to use their “critical thinking skills” to combat what he says is an attack on facts in politics and the media.

Tapper warned graduates in his commencement speech at the University of Massachusetts Amherst that “the very notion of empirical fact is being attacked and corroded.”

The “State of the Union” host said students should avoid “only listening to the politicians or the news media, and in some cases, the members of their family or their friends with whom they agree.”

“Resist the temptation to subject yourself only to that which reaffirms what you already think,” he said in his speech on Friday.

{mosads}He also gave specific advice to graduating students about sifting through the echo chamber: “Click the link.”

“People decide about an article’s validity based only on its headline or the language in the tweet linking to it. They judge books by their covers,” he said. “I urge you to read the story. I urge you to think for yourself. I urge you to click the link.”

Tapper also implored graduates to be “kind,” “patient” and “respectful” to one another in the face of “nastiness and mockery and meanness.”

“Embrace the humanity of everyone, especially those you don’t understand,” he said.