So your friend shares a news-looking link on social media that totally confirms something you have long suspected about a politician you dislike? What could be better -- now it's time to tell the whole world!
Wait! While it might be possible that Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell are secretly married and are presently raising a clutch of twelve of the cutest little lizardoid future world overlords you ever did see, before you share that link, check it: go to the linked site and read the page. At the top or bottom, there is just about always an "About." Click on it and see what the website has to say about itself -- is it really news? If so, have you ever heard of it before? Does it have a physical address? Or does it label itself as "satire," "humor" or "entertainment?"
A lot of poisonous, unfunny nonsense wraps itself up in the flag of "satire" these days. Who knows, maybe it's sincerely intended; after all, few wits are as pointed as Johnathan Swift's. Or maybe it's weaponized BS. Either way, a lot of it maps right onto somebody's darker notions and then gets shared as straight-up Truth.
Like counterfeit money, eventually it ends up in the hands of someone who sees the fake, and there you are, looking like a fool for trying to pass off nonsense as news.
Take an extra minute. Check out the source. Hey, worst-case, you'll get to see cute baby pictures of the future rulers of the planet, right?
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
4 comments:
I get called out occasionally for posting Babylon Bee stuff. A site that is clearly marked satire. Some of it is rather pointed but makes no claims to truth just humor. I try to avoid jumping on things but I will admit I was wrong if proven so. You are correct that some of the things that show up are tempting to follow personal biases.
That's ridiculous! Everyone knows pelosi is a Gray lizard and Mitchums is a Brown Lizard.... There's no interbreeding there.
Thanks for a stream of reason lately Ms. Ecks. We all need it badly.
As Abraham Lincoln once said, "You have to verify what you read on the internet."
Thank you.
I am guilty of that (jumping to conclusions based on someone else's opinion), I am embarrassed to admit. When the movie FURY ROAD came out, one reviewer claimed that PC 'Grrl Power' had stolen all of real action from the Road Warrior character, now relegated to being saved by there heroine. Later to find out after viewing that it really wasn't nearly as bad as the reviewer claimed.
It was MY FAULT - I jumped to conclusion and learned an important lesson - OPINIONS ARE FORMED BY THE VIEWER, NOT THE REPORTER.
So point made - mea culpa.
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