Check yourself before you wreck yourself!

So it seems like everyone and their brother is posting stuff on the Interwebz these days, especially on good old Facebook. They see some blazing headline or inflammatory post that seems to agree with whatever bit of stupidity they believe in and they post it with a screaming, “Hah see I was right!” attitude and generally spend the day feeling very smug with themselves. There are several problems with the posts and the smug attitude that seem to escape most people.

Let's deal with the problems with the posts themselves first and speak on the people posting them afterward. Most of the inflammatory posts that appear tend to fall into a few distinct categories. There are variations within those categories, but the broader ones will suffice for this post.

Category One is actual, well researched articles that use facts (Keep in mind that to most of these posters Fact is a four letter word and not a nice one.) and information that is easily confirmed and researched. They contain no hearsay or distortions, just the facts so that you can form your own opinions. Cat.1 is the least common of all the posts you see.

Category Two is a article/blog/video done by someone who believes devotedly in a subject. (Obama is an Illegal Alien. Cell Phones cause brain cancer etc.) This poster KNOWS beyond a shadow of a doubt that what he or she believes is true. They ignore any and I do mean any evidence that discounts their beliefs with a “Just (Insert opposing side here) propaganda.” They scour the Interwebz for any and all “News” (Used very kindly here) articles that support their “facts” and post them as proof of their beliefs. The morons in Cat. 2 are probably the most common Interwebz posters out there.

Category Three are articles/news reports/recipes that have a headline that seems to support the Poster's beliefs. The headline may read, “OBAMA SLAUGHTERS 2000 KITTENS!” So the Person posting the piece (that hates the POTUS) may think that the article is talking about the POTUS going around and taking a chainsaw to small fuzzies. So he or she puts the article on their page and scream, “See See! Told you he was evil!” Course the problem is that the actual article is about Obama doing stand up comedy and making kittens laugh so hard they squirt milk from their noses. Cat. 3 people see a catchy headline and then really don't take the time to read the article. Well at least all the way through. They are probably the second most common form of poster.

Category Four is a special category unto itself. People who post category four objects in their feeds are people like me. I often times call myself a “Loud Mouth with a Blog.” (Admittedly a blog read by hundreds of people in dozens of countries, but just a loud mouth with a blog.) I am guilty of multiple counts of posting articles or saying things that I don't necessarily think are true just to stir up discussions. (One friend had described it as stirring an ant mound with a stick.) I do comment on current events from time to time and try to at least put some modicum of investigation into them, but generally my intent is to entertain not edify. In this case I follow the #1 rule set forth by Comic Book Great Jack “King” Kirby who once said, “Never let the facts get in the way of a rousing good story.” The huge difference between Cat. 4 posters and Cat. 2 & 3 posters is that 90% of the time Cat. 4 posters make absolutely no claims to facts in their fantasy.

I find it a truly sad state of affairs that in an age where almost everyone in the US has instant access to almost unlimited data and information that so many people simply accept the “truths” they hear because they match what the people “know” to be true. You see it every day from the aforementioned POTUS being an illegal alien (He's not BTW) to Vaccines causing everything from Autism to Lycanthropy. (They don't FYI.) As long as these morons can find one or two “news pieces” that match their attitudes, they are content to ignore the massive amount of other pieces that completely dispute their tiny little ideas.

In the end, everyone must make up their own minds about what they believe and who they believe in. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs no matter how silly those beliefs may seem to others. However, if you really want to not look like a complete and utter idiot, here is a final bit of advice. Either keep those beliefs to yourself and whatever little group you belong to OR make durned sure the things you post supporting your beliefs are at least reasonably accurate. Trust me when I say, making yourself look like an idiot does not help your cause.

End of rant