Web of Lies

Regularly, I receive (via email) what can only be described as political propaganda. Most of it has been circulating for years, it's just that someone, somewhere, has plugged in the names of current politicians/political parties and is now passing it off as something new.

The most recent of these came to me with the following title: Your Social Security is an ENTITLEMENT! Yes, entitlement was all in caps, with the accompanying exclamation point. What followed was a diatribe that has (according to my research) been circulating since 2005 at least, with only a few minor changes.

When I get these emails, they bother me. Their purpose (in my mind) is singular--denounce one party or the other, or one politician or another. To me, it isn't difficult to see why the country is so divided at this point. These propaganda emails, along with a media that prefers to deal in shock and entertainment instead of reporting the news, have led us down that path.

And since these emails bother me so much, I feel compelled to research most of them. At times, I even send my findings back to the person who sent the email to begin with. I'm sure they've gotten wise to my ways and trash all my carefully researched emails without reading them, but that's all right. That wasn't the reason I did the research to begin with. I did it for my own peace of mind. Unfortunately, most people who receive these emails don't bother to do the same, choosing instead to believe the gossip and lies that have been passed over a virtual back fence. They then cheerfully participate in the lie by passing it right along over the internet to everybody in their electronic address book. The truth of the matter, poor orphan that it is, never stands a chance.

In case you're interested in the Social Security email (if you didn't get it already I am much surprised, but let's say you didn't), the gist of of it can be found by searching Snopes.com with the key words Social Security Changes. And then you can go to the official Social Security Administration website at www.socialsecurity.gov and read MYTHS AND MISINFORMATION ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY-Parts 1 & 2, because they've done their research as well and have an answer for every point made in the email. Sadly, some people won't take that as truth either, but then I don't buy into conspiracy theories and do not possess the talent to convince those folks otherwise. I also don't have a license to provide sorely needed counseling services.

Now, those folks who send me these emails wouldn't normally tell a lie to my face. Not knowingly, anyway. But once they receive something in print, even if it's printed in an email (and it fits their ideas and political views) it doesn't even strike them as dishonest to bat it into the outfield so everybody can read it and get their underwear in a bunch (figuratively speaking, of course). If your underwear does indeed bunch up, then perhaps a different brand might work. You just need to do your research.