Stop! Think! and Google!

You've done, I've done, we have all done it at one time or another.

We made the mistake of forwarding information or 'breaking news' that was not true.  We fell prey to something shiny and felt like being the first one in our circle to let everyone know that we knew it first.

Of course, once the truth is out, we look foolish and have to backtrack what we sent.  At least, those of us with a conscience that can accept when something is not true and admit we were wrong.

You see, boys and girls, it only takes a moment to look up the facts.  There is such a thing a Google, and there is PoltiFact and Snopes out there.  I have gotten to the point now that I look more closely at the news source.  If it is not someone legitimate (AP, Reuters, BBC, major news affiliate, etc.) I consider the claim "unknown" and forgo any forwarding of the information.  If it something really questionable, like "President Komrade Donnie looks into the sun during the eclipse," I actually went online and checked the news sources.  In this case, it was true: the Ding-A-Ling in Chief did just that, just like that time I learned that Supreme Court Justice Scalia died from auto-erotic asphyxiation. 

The problem with most of the untrue stuff that goes around the internet is that people wish these lies to be true.  They so wish that they had caught their most hated person screwing up that they want to shout it to the world accompanied with a "booyah!" of those that ever doubted them.  The bigger problem is when they refuse to admit that they posted something without checking the facts.  Or they get really pissed when someone sends them the Snopes article or anything that contradicts their every wish.

That's what has happened on Social Media, it is a lot of wish-makers out there that do not take the time to double-check themselves.  But then the lie spreads like wildfire and no amount of backtracking can undo it.  

Get yourself a piece of wood and hammer a nail in it.  That nail represents the lie you spread on the Internet through social media, or through email to your family and friends.  Now go pull the nail out: representing the minor steps you took to undo your mistake - by simply deleting the post or not answering any of the emails with Snopes links.  You notice that hole in the wood?  Did that get corrected when pulled out of the lie?

So, at the end of the day, Stop! Think! and Google!

Stop for a second and ask yourself is this tidbit of information is plausible.  Did anti-abortionist and U.S. Representative Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania really knock up a mistress and then demand of her to get an abortion?

Think for a moment if the information you are putting out can make you look like a bigger tool for posting it if it is remotely false.    Also, consider if it is false, what kind of damage are you doing?  What if someone posted that you were a pedophile, merely by accident, and it was not true?  But, even after the retraction and your name being cleared, all of your friends and associates think twice before inviting you over or including you in anything - though you absolutely did nothing wrong.

*You might think this example is too extreme, but it is what happens day in and day out on the Internet.*

Google! For Thor's Sake people, we have the Internet at our fingertips.  We have the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in our pockets on our phones.  The facts are there.  Look for them! Examine them! Validate them!

Bottom line... don't be part of the problem.  Be smarter than what is running the country today (which, granted is setting the bar quite low).

Stop! Think! Google!

That is all.

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