Abraham Lincoln* said ‘You can fool some people sometime, but you can t fool all the people all of the time.’ That s not stopping some out there from trying.
The American people are making some crucial decisions on issues and judgments about the direction of public policy using a web of half-truths and outright lies peddled by those who want to steer public opinion to support their goals. These people are taking advantage of the frustration of a segment of the American public and using their anger to batter anyone or anything perceived as the enemy. Some do their due diligence on these issues and have their own valid concerns which fuel their protest. Sadly, this is not the majority. There are a good number who use their fingers to give them just enough information from the internet to feel informed without looking any deeper or questioning the source. Some are even using blogs, which are opinion, as ‘facts’ or ‘proof.’ If someone, anyone, says it on the internet, it must be true.
Even when some of these dubious and biased sources are called out, they will retreat just long enough to come out with a similar, yet still outrageous, claim. Of course, the anonymous blogger with no accountability for the results of their words does not even retreat. He or she will just continue to spread whatever version of the truth they see fit since there is no consequence for them. That s not much better than a neighborhood gossip.
Here are the facts behind some of the issues that have been hashed about on this website.
Stimulus jobs did not cost over $230K each
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/02/misleading-math/
Independent CBO estimates that the so-called “public plan” in the revised bill will not destroy choice
http://factcheck.org/2009/11/the-government-run-mantra/
CBO says cap and trade will only cost taypayers $175 a year BEFORE economic benefits
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020948.php
Obama is NOT about to sign a treaty giving over U.S. sovereignty
http://mediamattersaction.org/emailchecker/200910260010
Bachman s claim about private health insurance is bogus
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/nov/03/michele-bachmann/michele-bachmann-claims-page-92-prohibits-private-/
Conservatives for Patient s Rights add untrue
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/09/no-guarantee-with-plan-or-without/
The truth about ‘czars’
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_09/019797.php
No, the White House is not hatching a plot to steal your personal info from social networking sites
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/09/02/does-obama-plan-to-spy-on-social-networking-sites/
Health care lies floating around since August
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/twenty-six-lies-about-hr-3200/
While facts may always be up to interpretation, you can t change the facts to fit the interpretation. Some with influence wish you to believe otherwise.
*Thank you Silverwun.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
S,
You’re right. See edits.
‘Twas Lincoln. Barnum is attributed with “There’s a sucker born every minute.” It is in dispute and said to have been “There’s a customer born every minute.”
For politicians they are one and the same anyway.
Now Lincoln made his statement about fooling people while the Press was still alive and independent. It was obsolete for several generations before the Internet and cable news.
Who knows? There are signs that all of the people are no longer fooled. We’ll have to see next year.
It is already fairly well known that Factcheck.org and Obama are in kahoots.
http://24ahead.com/s/factcheck
http://obamaindependents.blogspot.com/2008/10/obama-factcheckorg-ayers-and-annenburg.html
Any information that this site gives regarding the President is likely skewed. Oh sure, they’ll throw a “checked fact” in there or two that will lean against the President, just to maintain an illusion of balance. But to place credence on factcheck.org for anything political (particularly regarding Obama), or anything else for that matter, is shaky, at best.
Laura, you are 100% correct. There is so much bad information dumped on the net everyday, that we can’t take anything at face value. We must put on our thinking caps and our spectacles, and take a good look at the source of every piece of information fed to us. Much of the information in blogs, on political sites, and on certain news channels are little more than paid political advertisement mislabeled as facts.
Business interests spend millions of dollars influencing legislation and public opinion. A growing portion of this money is spent feeding sites business interest’s spin on the “facts,” and on manufacturing “facts,” to suit a business interest.
And you are correct, we should double check our quoted facts. Before I use a fact, I google search the source and the authority of that source.
“If someone, anyone, says it on the internet, it must be true.”
Yet I see your article is mostly links.
Here’s another lie for your list.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jobs-saved-created-congressional-districts-exist/story?id=9097853
Here’s another you can add as well…
“THEN-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE BARACK OBAMA: We’re going to have to change the culture in Washington so that lobbyists and special interests aren’t driving the process and your voices aren’t being drowned out.”
Followed by…
“OBAMA: I’ve spent my entire adult life working with SEIU. I’m not a newcomer to this.”
With the fact that;
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125695118989120183.html
and who wrote the healtcare legislation? SEIU and that is a verifiable fact.