I Need a Cape

I've decided I'm going to attempt to slide my middle aged body into a spangly leotard and proclaim myself a Superhero. I am now The Truth Avenger.

I have no intention of inflicting revenge for ridiculous lies with any sort of violence, I'm a peaceful kinda girl.

Instead I hope to avenge the truth by ensuring that folks who carelessly spread lies and rumors are outed as idiots.

I have received multiple e-mail rumors in my inbox this week that were completely untrue.

Most of these emails had been forwarded to literally hundreds of people without the sender checking to make sure it was factually based before they passed it along. This irks me.

There are multiple websites that specialize in fact checking. If you have the Internet capacity to send an e-mail, you can just as easily click a fact check website to see if a rumor is true or false before sending it to your 200 closest friends.

The first e-mail rumor I got said the ACLU was making all military cemeteries remove crosses from their headstones... Since I happen to live in a Navy town and drive past the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery from time to time and see miles of crosses on headstones, I thought that sounded like a lie. With a quick click on http://www.snopes.com/ I found the facts; the e-mail was false. I replied to my friend and cc'ed the other 200 people she sent it to with a link to the facts. She might think I am a beyotch now rather than a superhero, but I like the truth more than I like anyone.

The next e-mail rumor I got was the oft repeated "Obama doesn't have a U.S. Birth Certificate." Every time I get this one, my eyes start rolling. Seriously- if the guy wasn't a U.S. citizen do you think the entire G.O.P machine and the Clinton's wouldn't have uncovered that during the primary season of 2008?

But since the rumor persists, I diligently clicked on http://www.factcheck.org/ and replied back to my friend and all the cc'd victims with the link that had a copy of Obama's birth certificate with the raised seal, along with the birth notice that was posted in the Honolulu paper from 1961 thinking they'd say "Oh, thanks for letting us know."

But no, instead they said "That could have all been faked!" Sigh.* I put those people up there with the ones who think the Holocaust never happened and the Moon Landing was filmed in some guys' basement.

Why would they choose to believe in some vast conspiracy rather than factual evidence?

Because the lie suited them better. They preferred the fallacy to the facts because the lie was more in line with their viewpoint. The truth would have forced them to reevaluate their beliefs if they took it to heart. That my friends, is hate. "We hate this guy so much we'd rather believe lies about him than the facts."

Geek that I am, instead of having bumper stickers with designer logos on my car trumpeting the brand of handbag I buy, I have a quote by Thomas Paine:

“It is an affront to the truth to treat falsehood with complaisance.”

Enough for now, my Superhero leotard is very uncomfortable. - Tammy Lou