Dave and I took the bus over to Notting Hill yesterday to have lunch with our friends Chris and Linda. Chris has been in the hospital having a pacemaker installed, and he's looking much more frail as a result. I think he'll be fine but he needs some recuperation time.
We went to a nearby pub where the food was so-so and talked about medical ills and the political ills of Brexit and by the time we were done I was quite ready to Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive, as Johnny Mercer famously wrote.
But then I came home and kept reading "The Sleepless Moon," in which nobody is particularly happy. So it was just one of those days! Dave and I ended the evening watching "The Romanoffs," which I really like so far -- the second episode was better than the first, I thought.
Yesterday one of my Facebook friends -- a woman I knew when I was a small child in Florida -- re-posted a meme crediting Trump with restoring the White House nativity scenes after the Obamas "banished" them. Of course, I could not let this balderdash stand. I sent her a link to a Snopes article refuting the ridiculous claim that the Obamas got rid of the nativity scenes. She actually seemed appreciative, thanking me for "the correction," but I doubt she took it to heart. People are going to believe what they want to believe. Still, I'm glad I said something, and I pointed out to her that anytime she sees things like that online, she can check their accuracy on Snopes. You can give a person a fish, or they can learn to fish on their own, right?
(Photo: Part of the not-at-all-gloomy Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey. I only walked past, but one of these days I'll have to visit!)
Truth is hard to pin down these days. Blaming Californian forestry people, Trump said he'd been talking to the president of Finland about fire prevention and in Finland they do a lot of raking and clearing up to prevent forest fires. It turns out that President Sauli Niinistö had not spoken to Trump about this matter and besides 75% of Finland's land area is forest! How the hell could that be raked up? In short, Trump was once again blatantly lying - this time to have a nasty dig at the California Forestry Department. And please don't ask me about his disgraceful Puerto Rican lies.
ReplyDeleteI've been directing 'friends' to snopes since the 'Obama wasn't born in the US' party, begun by one Donald Trump, I believe. I usually don't get a reply, sometimes get a short thank you, and once even got the retort that snopes is a Democrat-run website and therefore unreliable. These days I usually just scroll by because arguing with an ignorant person is futile.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for sending the Snopes article. I think it's less about stamping out the lies altogether, an impossible task, than taking every opportunity to maintain cordial contact and make fact-based information available to those who are vulnerable to the lies. Catriona is right that arguing is futile, but I don't think making the effort to gently correct is wasted.
ReplyDeleteWhich you did admirably well. She may not stop believing and passing on these memes but you have planted a seed. Thank you.
I've gotten the same reaction before as Catrina- that Snopes is not to be trusted.
ReplyDeletePeople who believe in Trump are just going to believe in him no matter what.
One time a woman I know posted a thing on FB about how wasn't it wonderful that Jesus was welcome back in the White House again? She's an evangelical Christian, of a sort, and I commented, "I don't understand what this means," which I thought was fairly nonjudgemental. Another of her friends went off on her post and then she removed it. So. I guess sometimes other people's opinions are at least recognized.
I don't know why people believe some of the outlandish things. well, I do. they do because they want to. they'd rather believe than know the truth. during the midterms campaigns a woman posted one of the falsehoods going around about Beto to which I responded it wasn't true and perhaps she should do some research about what he stands for before passing along lies and she acknowledged my comment and that perhaps I was right. but then later she passed along another piece of crap about Beto. so, obviously she was not trying to find out the truth.
ReplyDeleteI thought you might have flown off to Florida when I saw that photo. It has such a modern and tropical look to it.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for pointing out that false story. How people can believe such nonsense is beyond me.
Sometimes you can tell the right wingers something and they get it but not very often.
ReplyDeleteI have repeatedly referred people to Snopes also but they never seem to learn.
ReplyDeleteGood for you. Maybe you may a small dent in that woman's ignorance.
ReplyDeleteYes, things are looking pretty darn dismal Brexit-wise.
People like the ex-pat blogger in France, Cro Magnon, and blogger Tom Stephenson have spelled out how very dark it could become.
I'm glad you referred them to Snopes. But I am reminded of a few lines from Paul Simon's The Boxer, "Still a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest..."
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't trust myself to comment on a FB post spouting nonsense. And I've seen how people can do as Catriona and Ms Moon mentioned, i.e., calling Snopes a left-wing, lying site.
ReplyDeleteThat building is such a peculiar but lovely shade of orange! It seems bright at first glance, then the colour just becomes richer and deeper the more you look!
The Washington post wrote a piece about the real fake news industry. It’s a thing. Sadly people believe the lies. I’ve been thinking about trying the romanoffs and will be curious to hear how you find it as you get further in.
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