Check Your Sources!

10/24/2008

One item that has left me so disappointed with the political process in the US is the negative tone of the invective thrown around by extremists on both sides. Perhaps its simply the reality of a two-party system, or maybe its just human nature; but the problem is exacerbated when such extreme partisanship spreads misinformation. I’ve been particularly disappointed in some of the libel spreading about Obama. Let’s consider excerpts from this chain email that’s been floating around:

email: “keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran.”
fact - This is simply not true (see below). While it is easy enough to manipulate imagery, this photo has been verified through several news sources and clearly shows Obama being sworn in on the Bible:

email: Barack Hussein Obama will NOT recite the Pledge of Allegiance nor will he show any reverence for our flag. While others place their hands over their hearts, Obama turns his back to the flag and slouches. ed: The email typically includes the following image:

fact - This image comes from an event during the singing of the national anthem, not the Pledge of Allegiance. For proof of Obama’s ability to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, watch this video, or this one.

The emails that are floating around with such misinformation are frustrating because many people lack the wherewithal to evaluate the source in one way or another. This leads folks to build upon some very bad information and even perpetuates the nonsense. In fact the chain email states: “We checked this out on “snopes.com”. It is factual. Check for yourself.” Well, I did. And almost all of it is wrong - and the rest is certainly not factual. I guess the authors assumed most people would just believe them without checking. Unfortunately, they were right. (For more craziness see the snopes.com representation of misguided Kenyan missionaries.)

I’m sure we’ve all experienced frustrating and emotional political conversations where you simply have to stop the discourse because its not based upon any true and observable reality, but instead on mere hearsay and false information. What makes me so very sad is the good people will base their votes on such.

Correct, that was during the National Anthem. However the flag laws state that you must salute either the flag (if it is visible to you) or the source of the singing (or at the very least, in that general direction). His limitations on weapons and the fact of that picture scare the living daylights out of me. Newsflash...I will use any means necessary to keep my family safe. If that includes breaking his stupid laws, then so be it.
Flag laws found here: http://racine.wi.net/flag.html
As the laws were created many years ago, some are outdated and not being followed (i.e. the wearing of the flag.)

Thank you! I totally agree. I’m tired with all the “facts” that people listen too, not just in e-mail and on the internet but on Television that are wrong. I like to check commericials from both sides to see how far politicians (or their supporters) will go to get a vote, its quite ridiculous but interesting. I’m a fan of Factcheck.org but a variety of sources are always better to check out. If you don’t mind i’m going to link this in my Livejournal :-D