Jeff Kaley
Waurika News-Democrat
WAURIKA —
Over a month ago, I stopped at a popular morning spot in Duncan to get a caffeine infusion. While there, I encountered a meeting of an affiliate of the Coffee Club Geniuses of America.
One of the guys said he’d gotten a group e-mail from a club member who was absent that day. In a serious tone, the fellow explained it was a call to rally against President Barack Obama and an action he’d taken.
This time, the “transgression” Obama supposedly committed — and there are a myriad of them, according to the Coffee Club Geniuses — was to cancel the National Day of Prayer, which was being held that day.
According to the speaker, when U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled the annual day of prayer was unconstitutional, Obama was pulling the strings behind the scene.
Other club members were dutifully outraged. When the speaker mentioned, “This president — if that’s what you’d call him — has to go”, a half-dozen heads nodded in agreement.
Thing is: The speaker was absolutely wrong, just as the e-mail blast condemning Obama for playing a role in Crabb’s ruling was completely off base. It was another of those button-pushing fabrications that fill e-mail mailboxes all over the USofA these days.
Earlier that morning, I’d seen Obama on TV endorsing the National Day of Prayer and attending a prayer service.
Beyond that, had the Coffee Club Genius spewing misinformation checked it out, he would have known the U.S. Attorney General’s Office was the defendant in the suit that resulted in Crabb’s ruling. That means the administration — the Obama Administration — had argued it WAS NOT UNCONSTITUTIONAL to have a National Day of Prayer.
Gentle readers, this is the Modern Age. When it comes to politics and social issues, facts just get in the way; truth is an annoyance that clutters up what some people want to believe.
It’s as though a growing number of Americans are locked in a game of “Telephone”; you know, that party pastime that’s also known as “Broken Telephone,” “Whisper Down the Line” and “Gossip.”
In “Telephone,” the first player whispers something to the next player and each subsequent player whispers their interpretation on down the line. By the time the final player reveals what they were told, it sounds nothing like the original statement.
In a party setting, the game can be fun. But “Telephone” is also a metaphor on how inaccuracies, partial truths and flat out lies are spread and can eventually be accepted as fact.
Out in the public forum, “Telephone” is no party game. When it gets mixed with the Internet, the political spin doctors, the intensely partisan talking heads in the media and a populace that’s angry and frightened, it leads to wild hyperbole, character assassination and total disregard for the truth.
“Telephone” has become a propaganda tool, and a lot of folks in our society are swallowing it hook, line and sinker.
A few days ago, I went to the website of snopes.com, which is in the business of authenticating urban legends. Snopes researches many of these politically- and socially-oriented group e-mails and determines their accuracy.
I went to the “Politics” page and clicked on the icon for “Barack Obama.” What unfurled were 87 entries about the current president that snopes.com had investigated.
In that mix were things like: Obama is a radical Muslim, Obama won’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance, Obama doesn’t qualify as a natural-born citizen, Obama wants to confiscate guns, Obama wants to ban recreational fishing and on and on, including Obama wants to ban the National Day of Prayer.
Of those 87 entries, the snopes.com folks determined 75 were either “completely wrong” or “partially wrong.” Breaking it down a little more, 59 were deemed “completely wrong” and 16 were “partially wrong.” (Just for the record, “completely wrong” or “partially wrong” are just another way of saying “lies.”)
Snopes.com isn’t alone, other authenticity sites check the validity of urban legends regarding politicians, prominent individuals, social and political issues, etc. Most report a majority of the group e-mails they investigate turn out to be lies.
Seems there’s a whole network of bull feces out there being circulated as truth, and that’s a dangerous game of “Telephone” for any society to play.
