Just over 3 years ago I posted my shortest article in 5 years on this blog when I wrote basically a few lines and embedded the same video I’m embedding here. This time, however, I have a story concerning the same topic, which is to tell y’all why you need to verify information you share with others before you put it out into the mainstream… whatever…
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I’ve talked about a plugin I use on Facebook called F.B. Purity, which I use to block out things I don’t want to see. I use it to block subjects and it works well there. However, when it comes to images, your only choices are to block all images or let them through. I get that since it can’t determine what an image might be, and it seems to be overkill to not see any images whatsoever so I let them through.
Yesterday, someone I just recently connected with on there via Empire Avenue put up a picture that showed in my stream. It was a picture of Hillary Clinton from 1973 when she was part of the legal group that was trying to have Richard Nixon impeached. There was a quote from some guy (I don’t remember his name right now) who supposedly said something to the effect that he fired her in 1975 because she was a liar and untrustworthy and he wished he could have her disbarred.
I’d never seen this guy’s name and never knew anything about her early history so I decided to look it up. Lo and behold, I found the story on Snopes, which we all know, and there was a long detailed writeup of it… and it turned out to be false. False on many levels, but the main thing is that he never fired her because she didn’t report to him, ever. He said it, often in fact once Bill Clinton started running for office, but many times he had to recant it because even he knew it wasn’t true. That’s the only part I’m addressing here, but you can check out the story if you’re in the mood.
I shared the link with this woman telling her it was false. Her response to me wasn’t what I was expecting; she said she hadn’t often found Snopes credible. What?!?!? I’ve always found Snopes credible, for what, at least 15 years or so.
I stated that and she said that they always seemed to have an agenda and she thought that’s what this was.
Agenda? Snopes? Since when it the truth agenda? When things are true they say they’re true, and when they’re not they say they’re not. They do a lot of research and always offer proof one way or another; where’s the agenda in that? It’s not like Faux Spews after all (that’s what I call them lol).
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I wrote her back saying that even if everything else was thrown out that they’d written, there couldn’t be any denying that he didn’t fire her for multiple reasons. One, she didn’t work under him. Two, she worked at that law firm until 1977 when he said he’d fired her in 1975, Three, he himself had recanted in multiple places, though then he’d say he wished he had fired her. I mean, dude’s really got it hard against her for some reason and, other than Republicans, he seems to be the only one (supposedly he’s a Democrat).
Then she said that she didn’t like the tone of my message and that if I wrote anything else she was going to delete anymore comments. Hey, I didn’t start this! Still, I figured that I had never invested any real time in this woman I didn’t know so I unfriended her there and on Twitter, sold any stock I’d bought in her profile on Empire Avenue, and moved on with life.
This points out two things.
One is the obvious one, since it’s the title of this post; verify your stuff when you put it online, because someone is going to call you on it eventually… unless you have a lot of stupid friends.
The other is that if you can’t handle what might come your way based on what you put up anywhere on social media… don’t put it up! Sure, there are times when an attack comes in some fashion that you weren’t expecting, but everything someone says to you shouldn’t be taken personally. Even when you get a stupid comment from someone who tells you that you should have written something in a different way (well, that was personal lol).
In any case, I not only wrote on the topic previously but, as you can see, I did a video on it, giving a different example of what was going on at the time. So, enjoy that as well.
https://youtu.be/4yLf7Uiah-I
For me, choosing the battle is more important – if a company or agency is giving bad information that impacts my ability to accomplish a goal, that is a battle worth waging. A random misinformed snippet may irritate me, but I no longer choose to share my opinion on the subject. Thankfully, there are plenty of people to fill that void! LOL
Cheers,
Mitch
Had I thought of it in those terms I might have left it alone. My mind doesn’t see things like that so I walked into it. I call out inaccuracies often; sometimes they’re taken well, sometimes not. Just can’t let people go around being ignorant… until they prove that they like their ignorance. lol I still wish my blocker could read images but we can’t have everything.
Hey Mitch,
If they’re going to share things like that then I definitely agree, check your facts before you throw that out there. Just like what they said the guy had recanted many times, that just means that particular image is STILL floating around the web. I’m sure she got ticked with you because she didn’t want to admit that she was wrong.
Yesterday on Google+ I shared a quote from Yaro Starak that basically said that if you really want to grow your leverage online then you need people. This girl commented on the post and was rather rude, cursing at me and I won’t repeat what she said. When I replied to her in a very nice way she responded calling me a bi*tch. Really! I ended up deleting the entire stream due to her constant profanity. I wonder about people like that Mitch. She either is a miserable human being or constantly gets up on the wrong side of the bed and has to take her own frustrations out on other. Whatever….
Anyway, their reactions are rather telling don’t ya think!
~Adrienne
I fully agree Adrienne. You just never know how people will react to stuff they put out there first that you respond to. In a way, we take our own chances by responding, which is why you and I sometimes have trouble telling people about commenting on blogs… sometimes, it turns out people don’t really want your comment if you don’t agree with them.
I can’t figure out why anyone would be cursing at you for sharing anything by Yaro, so she was either a crank or a troll; not close to being worth your time.
I can not think of a single person less deserving of that kind of name calling Adrienne. That truly must be a miserable person.
Hey Mitch, it’s unfortunate but a heck of a lot folks out there are blind to the truth. This is especially true when it concerns politics. One eyed political members only see and believe what they want to believe. Anything else they consider to be BS….
Good point Pete. I think it’s wild though that no one ever checks out something that comes out of nowhere, even if it’s about someone you don’t like. I can only remember a few times where I didn’t check something but only once where I was emotionally invested enough to care, that being the day after Michael Jackson died and my mind was elsewhere. So, it happens to the best of us (if I can take a moment for myself lol).
This is one of my biggest issues with social media and the net. Actually, I guess it is really a reflection of those I accept online relationships with. The price we pay for being so popular and in demand. lol
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a friend or family member see some shocking thing on Facebook and decided to share it only for me to come in and find it smack on Snoops as a lie. Truthfully, that’s an easy mistake to make.
The big crime here is when people with agendas (speaking of which), post lies and half-truths and don’t care as long as it fits their message. We see this all of the time from political and religious fanatics. I have a couple of close friends that will argue until the cows come home as long as it discredits some company or person – the truth be darned (I cleaned that up LOL).
It is these later people that do real damage. Not to their target, ironically, but to their own reputation. They allow their slanted views and damaged priorities to get in the way of common sense and actually think, a) people that matter are actually listening, and b) they’ll believe the nonsense. The truth is these people are preaching to other twisted rejects and are changing nothing. Most people see it for what it really is which is a fanatic with a cause and will stop at nothing to show their ignorance.
I’ll stop there before I get myself started. As you know, I don’t like talking about people. lol
Man, do I know what you mean! Sometimes I can’t believe the things people will say when commenting on articles on LinkedIn. I mean, it’s a business site, and I always wonder what these people can be thinking. Having an opinion is one thing; being blatantly hateful with one’s words is another.
People with agendas… I get that. Blatantly lying… that I don’t get. If something is incorrect and someone else points it out, accept it and move on. That is, if they provide proof, like I did. If it was just my opinion, that’s easy enough to ignore.