So I have been reading snide and insulting comments about the above video since essentially the day after it happened. Thousands of people jumping on the bandwagon in outrage over Michelle Obama reportedly saying "All this for that damned flag" or minor variations on that theme. Seen so many "experts" claiming to have read her lips and KNEW what she said and so many thousands more willing to follow just because they don't like the Obamas and want to believe anything bad about them. (Barry Sotero anyone?)
Now I personally know several people who are actually deaf and are very good at reading lips. Most of the ones I asked about it couldn't clearly make out what she said, but agreed that the way her lips moved didn't form the words in the sentence in question. Keep in mind these are people who lip read every day to essentially function in the real world.
Still, people may argue (And Gods do they argue) that my friends could be wrong. And I agree that everyone is fallible. Everyone makes mistakes. However, this little rant isn't really about whether my friends are right or someone else is right. This rant is about credibility.
So the person/s who posted this particular link on You Tube said, "Yes, folks, that is what she said, according to an instructor at a School for the Deaf and Blind who watched the video." This would be incredibly damning except for one teensy weensy fact. "Contrary to what's claimed above, no instructors employed by the River School in Washington, D.C. participated in the interpretation of Michelle Obama's lip movements in the video in question.
"Please be advised," read a statement posted on the school's website
in 2011, "that the River School was not involved in any translation
services for a recent video clip currently circulating on the Internet."
The denial was reaffirmed by River School director Nancy Mellon in a
statement quoted by Politifact.com. "It's definitely not us," Mellon said. "We would never try to do anything like this."The plain and simple fact is, anytime you try to back up your "facts" with lies then that automatically discredits anything you are claiming. The fact that the rumor mongers couldn't find a single actual expert to back up their claims damns their claims as lies. It comes under the same heading as Obama's birth certificate. Real experts who have spent their entire lives in their chosen fields have tried to prove that Obama's BC is a fake. They failed. No credible proof has ever been put forward to show that he is anything other than a natural born US citizen. So instead of accepting this, people cling to lies like the aforementioned Barry Sotero April Fools Joke or the Umpteen dozen Barack Obama Social Security cards. People refuse to accept actual facts as long as it contradicts what they "know."
To me, when anyone argues with lies, they have already lost. Even if what they are trying to say is true, the fact that they have to resort to lies and disinformation means they will never prove their point. Baffling people with Bullshit may get you the sheeple, but will never prove your point.
End of rant
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