I hate politics. I
hate politics a lot. I admit I don’t pay
a lot of attention to political things, and try to keep out of discussions
about those for that and many other reasons.
I know that there are a lot of people who don’t like President Obama,
and that’s fine with me. I’m not saying
whose side I was on at election time, just that I voted for the person whose
platform I most agreed with. Obama won
the election, for good or bad, right or wrong for our country. Is he gonna be right all the time? Hell, no, because you know what? He’s a human being. The best he can do is hope that he makes more
right than wrong choices, and that the rest of the governmental process
supports those and helps correct the wrong ones. And, let’s face it, that’s the
best all of us can hope for, both from our
President, and in our own lives.
However, I hate untruths a whole lot more than I hate
politics. I totally don’t mind the fact
that people have other thoughts than I do, and it doesn’t mean I don’t still
like them and want to be friends. They
are entitled to their own beliefs, just as I am and everyone else is. But it really pisses me off when those beliefs
are based on, and fostered and inflamed by untruths. The latest that several of my friends have
posted on Facebook is a speech by Ben Stein (and I admit I’m so out of it that
I don’t really know who he is), allegedly regarding the Obama’s decision to
call the tree a ‘holiday’ tree rather than a Christmas tree, and to not put
religious themed ornaments on it.
And even more than untruths, I really, really hate that
people just spread them around when it is pretty easy to check them out. Just go to snopes.com or hoaxbusters or any of
the several other sites that research things and tell you if they are true,
false or some of each. The Christmas
ornament thing? False, according to
Snopes. The Ben Stein speech? Yes, it was made, but not as a response to
the Obama’s White House Christmas tree.
That would have been impossible, since he made it in 2005, when the
president was named Bush. Any doofus can
put two things together and call it facts.
People who care about what they are passing on check before they further
spread untruths.
So, people, please check your facts. You don’t like that Obama got reelected? That’s fine.
You don’t agree with him? That’s
fine, too. I won’t argue politics with
you. I will argue spreading things that
aren’t true. Please don’t do it. If you’re my friend, I’d like to think you’re
better than that.
