You know, if there’s anything that pisses me off, it’s people who swallow whatever they hear from more or less untrustworthy sources whole. It doesn’t have to be birtherism, but this is just a great example of someone not actually paying attention. Case in point: I could find absolutely no connection between Alexandra Hill and Obama beyond the one cited in this article. Google pulled up, quite literally, that post in the first few results. It doesn’t take a genius to look at a story of this magnitude, see that only fringe sites like Tea Party Tribune and FreeRepublic have taken it up, and say, “Huh, you know, maybe I shouldn’t make a thread about this story taking it seriously”. But some people are too stupid to make sure that sources that agree with them aren’t completely and utterly full of shit!
Please, guys, if you’re going to make a citation, make sure the source is somewhat serious, or at least getting its information from a primary source that’s trustworthy.
And it’s not just on stories from the political right side of the spectrum. MSNBC did a whole story about how Apple and Microsoft were begging the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) to boycott them because it’s boosted sales for Starbucks.
Science Reporter Peter Hadfield, once again points at what people can do nowadays that there is something called the internet: Find out where the news come from and check it yourself.
In this example anti-vaccine yahoos at Natural News claimed on a “news break” that CDC hided the mercury connection in the latest reports.
Sure, ignore how the evidence shows that there is no connection with thimerosal with mercury and autism and the study referred in the misleading bit of news actually shows that the removal of thimerosal did nothing to stop** the observed increase **of autism cases after removing that substance from vaccines.
Cause and effect could bite them in the ass and they would still get it wrong, morons do not read the research of proper experts because they can not handle that their “beautiful” theories are shot down by ugly facts.
Oh yeah, the right wing doesn’t have a monopoly on this either, but they certainly have a leg up, at least in the science department. This stuff can come from anywhere, and the ability to vet ones sources is fucking important! Why can’t anyone figure this out?
I deify Potholer54. And yeah, he has just great advice in his videos, and it mostly really boils down to “CHECK THE SOURCE YOU MORONS”. This stuff comes from all over the place, and I’m constantly astounded by retarded monkeys who can’t take ten seconds to check where their news source is getting their info.
My peeve along these lines are the jerks who send out glurge with a line at the bottom - “Confirmed by Snopes!” No, it isn’t. I went to Snopes, and it was not confirmed. Not only are you forwarding stupid glurge, but you’re stupid and irresponsible, too.
Hey, let’s start some really juicy stuff - if people read it on the internet, it must be true! About eight or 10 years ago, I was vacationing in the Rockies in a small town called Radium Hot Springs, and I saw a couple there together, obviously having an illicit weekend - the couple was Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama! I couldn’t believe my eyes!
How about if we look at the Birth Certificate directly? Is that primary enough? Upon close examination we do see several issues with the provided document. First, official birth certificates from the state of Hawaii have included a water mark of the major islands since 1953. This document does not seem to carry one. Second, the state seal that appears on the form is the alternate seal, which did not appear on Hawaiian birth certificates until 1964 - three years after the document was supposed to have been generated. Lastly, and perhaps most telling, is that the certificate does not include the mother’s full name, which has been required for all birth certificates in every state of the Union. You can view it here. I am not saying that it is definitely a forgery, but I believe these questions need to be addressed.
This one time, at not-band camp, I made up a complicated, spooky and Totally Absolutely True story about how the house where we were staying was haunted, to scare my housemates. The next summer someone told it back to me, as Totally Absolutely True.
That was when it hit me that ‘someone says so’ isn’t actually good enough. I’m not saying I don’t fall for dumb shit occasionally, but I do at least have the principle in my head. If I can figure it out at fifteen, grown-ass adults should have it down.
I’m gonna send my kid to the same camp, when she’s old enough, to see if someone tells the story to her.
A “friend” of my wife’s forwarded her an email with the subject “CBS News: Confirmed: Obama’s Birth Certificate Not Authentic.”
Which included a link to some dipshit’s blog, which did in fact have a video clip of CBS News—or more accurately, a local CBS news affiliate in Phoenix, AZ, running (credulously) a story about Joe Arpaio’s “investigation” into Obama’s birth certificate.
I hesitate to provide the link, but here it is if you’re feeling masochistic.
