Have I really written 70 posts already? I must have a lot to say! I believe that that statement must be true, since I find myself in situations with thoughts of an aha moment, that this (meaning those situations) could be blogged. Well - I don't know if that is correct english or not. I find myself writing things and wincing at run-on sentences, sentence fragments... but noting in articles - the same things being done, which seems to give me the same liberty to do it also.
Which brings me to...I had a spectacular education as far as grammar goes with Mrs. Riley, and Mrs. Yetter...in 7-8th grades, who must be turning over in their graves. It was an education to die for. (clever pun...yes?) We learned to diagram sentences, learning about parts of speech, etc. very completely. Diagrams with huge long lines, and many sections, going this way and that on the chalkboard. I'm sure my brother and cousins can attest to that, since we all went to the same high school, so many, many eons ago.
Which brings me to a subject, that has shaken me and given me thoughts that I need to have the courage to write down.
False political health care e-mails scare me. There. I did it.
Do you get them too? I don't know about you, but it bothers me greatly that some e-mails are being sent, that are so definitely false and negative. How could anyone write, or believe they were true? At first, I couldn't believe what I was reading, and it upset me because I didn't know what to do about it, nor could I prove they were wrong, nor argue for the truth. Actually, I just didn't know enough about the subject matter. I will admit...I am not politically wise.
Paul told me: People are stupid. Yes, they are, but I like to believe they don't realize they are (a bit of humor) or what harm they're doing by passing on these falsehoods. I was very frustrated and upset by all these negativisms and untruths. Well...I am starting to feel better now, because I have found a way to respond. It's a site, a pulitzer-prize winning, (so I trust it) - non-partisan site, - that will tell readers what is true, partially true, not true at all, and pants-on-fire false. (remember liar, liar, pants on fire?) So...if you read anything in these political e-mails that you are sceptical about, or you hear people saying things, if you feel like doing it, you can check it out on this site. If you find it to be okay, well - okay. If it's not true - This is what I am doing, and you could consider doing... forwarding what they say to all the e-mail recipients of these falsehoods letting them know the truth. Think of all the people you can tell the truth to. How many people would want to know. I know people must want to know. Don't you? The site is Politifact.com. As little Mikey says, Try it... you'll like it.
4 comments:
Hi Mom, I feel the exact same fear and anxiety whenever I read Fox News. I mean, Fox "News".
No, you were right the first time. It's the Fox News: all the news that's "not" fit to print. - their anxiety provoking look at life that causes fear.
Actually, I think that using fear and ignorance as a political tool was probably much worse in the past than it is today. Look back to the 19th century and you will see that misinformation and fear-mongering were the norm then, not the exception.
However, today it is much easier to point out, discover, and respond to the falsehoods. Some people still live insular lives and still receive biased information. Only now, they do it voluntarily.
Today, the spreading of malicious information is not as blatant as it was back then, but it is indeed practiced by a thousandfold more people.
Jil - you are absolutely correct - it doesn't seem right tho that people now should be as ignorant as they have been. We have brain, more knowledge and we should use them all. Haven't we learned anything from the past? I guess not.
Who knows.
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