Presumably reality is comprised of facts (and not much else) so there really isn't "something" else to check 'em against. Which brings me to the whole essence/existence on pragmatism question for you: Specifically, what should John Doe do to prevent A-Z from taking over? Again, specifically please.
When is a fact not a fact?
When it is either a lie presented as fact to throw one off from the truth, or it is a fact presented as the whole truth, when more is known or could be known.
OR
IOW (in other words) a fact may not be as it appears to be, when it is presented to you after being manipulated or filtered by others.
How do you know what you can believe as true? If it originates in the institutions of man...... you can almost never be sure. If you recognize this is true then it is the most rational position to always be prepared to keep a reasonable doubt.
Thats why the court oath seems to be a tautology but isn't:
'promise to tell the truth, the WHOLE truth, and nothing but the truth'.
The truth... the facts as witnessed by the senses or measured, presented as observed, complete and all, with nothing withheld, and no opinion or personal judgement as to the meaning or interpretation.
What you accept as fact is almost always an assumption...... not something you know first hand and could swear to under oath as a witness. It is a report given to you from another and you may not know how many levels it passed through or who had the cause or the power to present the truth or withhold evidence or alter it before it reached their hands. You have no way to prove beyond your past observations and gut feeling, what facts may be presented in such a matter as to shape your own impression and you are left to accept the opinions as presented to you by media and/or its sources along with the facts they receive to give you.
Almost everyone if not everyone, in MSM (main stream media) is obligated to those who own and control the media. Almost all of it is also dependant on commercial support interest. The same people who front the money and ownership of the major networks also control most of the major newspapers in our country and also many major radio stations across our country. These folks at the top also have their own personal alliances with others (policies, politics, philosophies, banking, business and corporate interest, government agencies) who have more to lose if they put the public trust ahead of their own interest. They know where the power is.
As far as your trust is concerned.....they can almost surely count on it. They also know they can count on having and keeping the majority of the people's trust..... believing what they are told as factual and completely honest, because we (the people) have little else at our own disposal to work from..... Those of us who think and keep asking the questions are but a little annoyance to them and to the members of society which have learned their same behaviors of discrediting, embarrassing, ignoring, or name calling. And should we ever come to a time that a power of leadership is in charge which is willing to do the unthinkable...... they know that by conditioning, the masses will accept their choice to dispose of those pesky annoyances....... as regimes of the past have successfully justified and done with little protest from the majority.