Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Political Lies are Ramping Up Again... It Must Be Silly (Campaign) Season Again

I just got a baseless rumor that President Obama "canceled" the National Day of Prayer this year and was found praying with Muslims.

OMG!!!

And the rumor came in an email from a lady I love and respect, so it floored me. I pointed her to snopes.com and truthorrumor.com to show her the reports are not true.

What scares me is that this crap is getting into mainstream reporting -- even though it has been thoroughly debunked -- and perfectly reasonable folks are beginning to fear it's true.  If you repeat anything long enough, some people will begin to believe it.

Please remain vigilant, people. If something sounds too good, or too scary, to be true, check it out at snopes.com or at factcheck.org before you forward it on. By spreading misinformation and disinformation far and wide, you're doing a disservice to our nation and world.

Look for the truth. It exists. If an ad makes a claim against a politician running for office, visit the candidate's website, the Congressional Record, snopes.com, and/or factcheck.org and see what they have to say before you believe what their opponent has to say. There are two sides to every story, and when you blindly accept just one side, you're prejudging and discriminating.

I listen to Fox TV and to MSNBC at least once a week. They have express agendas and viewpoints (opposite ones).  If anything seems too far out to believe, I always check it out. Fox wins, hands down, when it comes to misinformation and disinformation.  MSNBC and CNN get higher marks, even though MSNBC is as "shrill" as Fox. 

The facts matter.  When we demonize each other, we demoralize and destroy the fabric of our nation. We're all in the same boat; let's try to remain humane, sane, and unprofane when it comes to "the loyal opposition."

'nuf said.

2 comments:

Carl Rylander said...

There was an article on Jon Stewart, about an article on Fox, saying that Obama gets loads of money, circuitously, from various sources.

Jon blew it out of the water with a direct link from one right wing source straight to the Republicans.

They really do think people are dumb, on that Fox news, but it's entrancing, you almost believe it. They have a right to say it, of course.

Kris M Smith said...

I personaly believe that political ad campaigns and punditry should be held to the same standards as ads for products and services -- that the info told must be true and verifiable. LYING about a candidate or his or her position, thought process or "intent" is disastrous for countries. Politicians use misinformation and disinformation constantly to put fear into voters. The GOP does it more than the DEMS. What the DEMS report is verifiable, real reasosn to fear. What the GOP spouts -- Marxist, Socialist, Muslim, not a real American citizen, and stiff like that -- is NOT and yet 25% of the population believes it.

It's insane.