A Social Media Fable For Our Time

Once upon a time (this morning) traveling through the land of FaceBook, I spied a post. Alarm bells went off in my head, as I circled round to get a better look.

The headline read: “Merck to add glyphosate to vaccines in huge deal with Monsanto”

What? Inconceivable! 

 I calmed my Hackles (the name of the horse I was riding in on) and got busy researching.  (I have learned a little from getting burned, humiliated and attacked by trolls on said social media...in that strange land we must remember not to trust anything at face value! Especially if the first reaction is " AHHH HA! I KNEW IT!"

Red flag territory.

The back story is that I am a science geek. When people pass off anecdotal BS as fact on social media I get triggered big time. Anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists, chem trails...oh my! 

I mounted Hackles and started to ride like the Lone Ranger toward truth and the righting of wrongs. A full time, thankless job in the land of FaceBook. First I researched if Merck actually did make a deal with the devil. All I could find was this article:

Do vaccines contain glyphosate? Examining the anti-GMO claim 

Interesting serious article. Bottom line: Merck did not make a deal with Monsanto. No one is intentionally adding Roundup to anything we consume. Vaccines are good. Misinformation and outright lies are fear mongering tactics by people with either anxiety disorders, issues with authority or axes to grind.

 Ok. With that ammunition under my belt, I strode through the swinging doors, hands on six-shooters and laid my cards on the table.  I had a full house. 

Just then, my dear friend Inigo Montoya whispered in my ear..."I think you are being duped my friend." 

"Inconceivable!" I say. But I have always trusted my friend, so I slowly take my cards back and retire to a table with WiFi.

Quickly I discovered that the Montoya was right! We had all been duped. The Science Post (sounds so official) that published the article is total satire! They say they are your one-stop shop for non-award winning health and science satire. 

As if my social media life is not complicated enough, I now have to deal with a science satire??!? Apparently so. Add The Science Post to the Onion and New Yorker Andy Borowitz. 

So I got out the cards, shuffled and dealt a new hand. This is all a joke designed to "expose people's  stupidity", their words. Well, that certainly muddies the waters. 

I went back and actually read the article, something that was probably a good idea to do initially. It said Merck was altering the recipe for their vaccines to make them more toxic. Lots of people want to believe that one. Then it mentions Monsanto CEO Judas Luciferr. BINGO! Everyone knows that's not how you spell Lucifer...and the last CEO of Monsanto before Bayer bought them out was Hugh Grant...not the actor. Ha! Gotcha.

Then it got even more ridiculous...
“Most people eat glyphosate everyday, this way we get it directly into the bloodstream and make sure the consumer is riddled with it” said Luciferr. That is some serious sarcasm.  

Here's the link if you want a laugh.

We all had a good laugh. I climbed back up on Hackles, waved goodbye to Montoya and rode out of the land of FaceBook, much wiser. 

The moral to this story is when traveling in the foreign lands of social media it is wise to read more than just the headlines and have a friend like Montoya to whisper in your ear. 

I'm going to go watch The Princess Bride again. Carry on.

 

 

The Wall, Shutdown and An Epiphany!

Well I don't know why I came here tonight.
I've got the feeling that something ain't right.
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs.

Clowns to the left of me!
Jokers to the right!
Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

(Stealers Wheel. 1972)

The Democrats are flexing their new muscle and digging their heels in about Trump's wall. Trump is busy trumping up (sorry I couldn't help it) support for the wall by inflating the crisis story. This Stealers Wheel song comes to mind. Dems to the left of me, GOP to the right...here I am stuck in a shutdown with you. While having a strong belief that a wall is about the stupidest, most extravagant waste of time and money possible, I had a new thought. Eureka! I don't really know what's going on at the southern border. I don't know if a wall is what would be helpful or not. I don't know how many people are crossing illegally. I don't know how the people who live there are experiencing this situation and what they want. I don't even know what the overall true immigration issues are. How many immigrants/refugees can we absorb? Does the immigration process need to be changed? How?

Yes, I have read the news articles, listened to both sides. But much of it is second hand reporting with a bias toward one side or the other. When it comes down to really knowing, I don't. What makes many of us want to fight to the death, and lose friends, over something that we really have no first hand knowledge of? Somebody said people will believe anything as long as they like the person saying it. It's a complicated psychological drama we are in. 

I certainly know how I feel and what I believe. But a belief is, after all, just an idea we have repeated over and over until we think it is an obvious truth.  Social networking algorithms have strengthen the perception that my thought is the only true thought, because that is all we see: more of what we like and agree with. Imagine Trump sitting in the oval thinking like I do, that the world agrees with his every thought. I'm sure it's happening. It a crazy distorted reality. But that's not all. It has created such polarity between factions that there is a concern that violence will be the next step unless we can all realize...WE KNOW NOTHING.  It's not that the news is all fake, but it sure is biased. That influences each of us one way or another and then we get on facebook. Oy! Between the trolls and the bots, the fur flies! And still - WE KNOW NOTHING! 

So this new thought has caused me to soften my position, to accept that I really don't know anything about anything except what is right in front of me.  I will still have my opinions but will listen more and talk less. 

Thanks for reading. 

Feeding the Beast

Black Friday is behind us and Cyber Monday is breathing down our necks. It seemed this year that

black Friday lasted the whole month of November. I remember the days when people lined up in the freezing cold, blankets and chairs in tow, to get the best deal on a big screen TV, computer or the sought after toy of the year. It was the hunter mentality, enduring hardship to realize the exhiliation of bagging that mammoth. Not so much any more it seems. Internet shopping offers deals all year and who wants to wait for hours in front of Best Buy when you can order online in your jammies? Not me, that's for sure. Besides, do we really need more stuff? Do we really want to go on an exhausting shopping frenzy only to get something for the sake of getting something? No doubt that obligatory something will go back to the store the day after Christmas. One step forward, two steps back. Not to mention the horrific credit card bills that arrive in January. Nope, not me.

Maybe I am at that age when stuff just doesn't seem that satisfying. Maybe because we cleaned 40 years worth of accumulated stuff from a family home that "stuff" has lost its luster to me. How much "stuff" do we actually need?  Remember George Carlin's routine about stuff? What made it funny was the truth it told! I think that in this capitalistic nation we have been sold the bill of goods (pun intended!) that it is our civic duty to shop, stimulate the economy and keep America great. That is the beast I am talking about. The economy is alive and hungry and will ravage our civilization if it isn't fed.  Or so we are  told. The Economy no longer seems to be serving the people, the people are serving it. I realize it would be a difficult transition from the frenetic consumerism of today to a less stuff filled world, but I think the shift would be worth it. Benefits would include fewer products produced and discarded, and the satisfaction of repurposing goods. There would be fewer pushy commercials urging us to buy things we don't need. I can feel the peacefulness descending on me as I write this.

So Black Friday is becoming a dinosaur and cyber Monday is everyday. They are as outdated as the semi-annual sale of my childhood.  Call me the Grinch, but I can say that I am not sad to see it go.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone!

Who you calling a migrant? Huh?

Can we clarify something, please! This morning a news article talked about a federal judge temporarily blocking the Trump administration from denying asylum to migrants who illegally cross the southern border. What are we talking about? This statement clearly mixes apples with oranges. 

People that cross the border to work are often called migrants and this country has had, like it or not, a symbiotic relationship with them. 

Some are legal, many are not. They have harvested our crops and we have paid them a fraction of what a US citizen would get. They have no social security numbers so any benefits they could get would be minimal if at all. They are not a drain on our economy, they support it, often at their own expense because that is better than starving. This year because of administration policy that changed and many crops rotted in the fields. Sad for everyone.

mi·grant

/ˈmīɡrənt/

noun

1.

a worker who moves from place to place to do seasonal work.

synonyms: immigrant, emigrant

A group of people, that legally seek asylum are called REFUGEES. Not migrants. Not illegal.

ref·u·gee

/ˌrefyo͝oˈjē/

noun

a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

It is our humanitarian duty to offer refuge. It is not illegal. These people go through

channels. Can we please stop calling them migrants and respectfully call them what they are? REFUGEES.

I don't expect Trump to change his tune because he is pushing a fear based agenda that "illegal migrants" are bad people and we need to keep them out. Maybe Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric would like to go pick tomatoes? 

But I respectfully request that the media get it right and stop parroting what gets erroneously repeated. 

REFUGEES. They deserve a chance to find asylum here. 

Remember "Truth, Justice and the American Way"?

Truth, justice and the American way was the motto for Superman. While I wasn't alive when he was conceived of in 1938, I remember as a kid watching George Reeve play Superman on the TV screen doing good for all.

Benjamin Moore in a July article for The Chicago Tribune says this:

Superman was the first superhero to introduce Americans to a new role for their government. ...Superman's first appearance in 1938 showed him combating social issues. 

Delivering justice, protecting family and stopping corruption, Superman represented the newly expanded New Deal state. ...Superman vowed to use his powers only to advance the greater good and fight pervasive social ills. He had an infallible moral compass and an unquenchable desire to make the world a safer place.

The Superman generation had ideals and a sturdy moral compass. My parents willingly did their civic duty, cared about justice, fought for the little guy and believed that government cared about and for us. Maybe it was naive and idealistic, but it got this country through the depression and two World Wars. It wasn't perfect, we disagreed a lot, but we also listened and worked at solutions to problems. 

What happened to us? Truth, justice and the American way seems to have been forgotten. As a country, those ideals which have truly made America great, have been assaulted, mocked or forgotten completely. My greatest fear right now is that ideals (truth, courage, goodness, compassion, justice and mercy) do not matter anymore. We are bombarded with lies, propaganda, and misinformation on a daily basis. It's a lot of work and sometimes impossible to uncover what is actually true. It's enough to make heads spin and hearts break. The latest episode transforming Brett Kavanaugh from an alleged perp into a poor victim is just the tip of the iceberg. 

I'm searching for the silver lining in this mess. The only one I can come up with is that things have to get bad before we take action. Maybe things need to come apart before they can change. We have recognized that our country, and perhaps the world, is off course and heading into a ditch. Our chant for years has been "CHANGE!". Obama ran on change. Sarah Palin mocked change. Now we have a version of change. Our prayer has been answered, but maybe not in the way we were hoping for. Last night my husband and I were watching Empire Games on Netflix. The Roman Empire was a bloody time filled with conspiracy, power grabs, mentally ill sadistic kings and assassinations. I said "Whew, makes me feel a little better about what's going on today."  Maybe we are the tiniest bit more civilized than ancient times, or maybe we are just more sophisticated in our cruelty. 

History is cyclical, a spiral, actually. Empires come and go, we war and fight, and power changes hands. There are moments of peace and times of brutality. Patterns repeat, but always from the higher ground of greater awareness. We are slow learners. Robert Thurman, a worldwide authority on Buddhism and spirituality, told us that even though things seem to never change we are steadily moving forward in a positive direction, albeit slowly.  We may not see it in our lifetime, but he believes we are progressing and I hope he is right. 

So here's the silver lining: Times like this teach us the greatest lessons. We have power and authority over how we relate to everything that comes at us. Do not let social media, pundits or politicians disturb our peace! When we can find peace in turbulent times, we learn that our true nature is goodness. Anyone can get swept away at a rally. But who are we really? What do we believe in? John A. Shedd said, “A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.” Marianne Williamson reminds us that we were made for these times. It's up to each one of us! We have the ability to choose our path and courage to navigate rough waters.  So take heart, learn everything, and let us be the best humans we can be. While we are at it, hug the kids, mow the lawn, run for office, eat a cookie, volunteer our time, and VOTE our conscience. We are all in this together.

FYI...

Center for Action and Contemplation
Valarie Kaur Revolutionary Love

Make Those S##thole Countries Great Again

Dear Mr. President.
We are a nation of immigrants. Your family is not Native American, sir, and immigrated to the United States in the 1800's, seeking a better life, as many did. They all came from what you now refer to as s##thole countries...Ireland, Italy, Poland, Russia, Germany. Yes, we have heard the story of your grandfather Friedrich. Sadly he did not add to the quality of life here in the US, but instead took

Friedrich Trump

advantage of the Gold Rush and "pursued a colorful career providing food, liquor and women to miners". After making his fortune, he came to settle in Queens, NY. When he married a Bavarian woman and she became homesick, he tried to reinstate himself as a Bavarian citizen. But because he had avoided military service, a familiar Trump story, he was denied and deported.

Friedrich said in his pleading letter:

We were confronted all at once, as if by a lightning strike from fair skies, with the news that the High Royal State Ministry had decided that we must leave our residence in the Kingdom of Bavaria. We were paralyzed with fright; our happy family life was tarnished. My wife has been overcome by anxiety, and my lovely child has become sick.

Why should we be deported? This is very, very hard for a family. What will our fellow citizens think if honest subjects are faced with such a decree — not to mention the great material losses it would incur. I would like to become a Bavarian citizen again.

Sounds familiar to the plight of many that you, Mr. President are seeking to cruelly deport back to their s##thole countries on grounds of little more than a parking ticket. You would prefer immigrants from Norway. The United States of America has been a sanctuary  since the very first immigrants set foot on this land, escaping religious persecution, taxation without representation, famine, war, poverty and death. People do not leave their beloved homes, their cultures, their families on a whim. They do so to find a way to survive, to live safely and freely,  to have an education and a better life. THAT, Mr. President is why we have always been a country that welcomes those less fortunate from s##thole countries. THAT is why we are an amazingly innovative, ingenious, hard working and creative melting pot of cultures and beliefs, skills and talents. Or in the words of Emma Lazarus immortalized on The Statue of Liberty gracing New York Harbor: 

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

People don't leave countries that care for them, provide healthcare, safety, and a sound quality of life, such as Norway does. Why you would think that anyone would leave their home in Norway to come here and face the violence, bigotry, discord, and disregard we are now known for is beyond me. You want to make America Great? Perhaps you could rethink what that exactly means. It does not mean going back to the 1950's. It's not about lucrative deals. It's not about coal or oil. It's about caring for people and the quality of life we live. It's about healthcare and education. The way this country is going I can imagine refugees fleeing it in the years to come to gain access to a better way of life elsewhere. We hope that we would be welcomed and make helpful contributions. Maybe you could use executive time to do some research, read, listen to people other than Fox and Friends, open your mind. Because right now Mr. President, the only person I would like to deport is you.

Have a MAGA day.

Reference:
https://www.snopes.com/trumps-grandfather-bavaria-deport/

FAKE News Primer

All I am hearing from the Trump White House is Fake this and Fake that. The media are liars, the news is fake. But not all the news! The news that Trump agrees with, he says that is real. There is also the concern about fake news stories that have been deliberately planted to influence us. It gets very confusing. So I decided to see if I could make it simple.

FAKE NEWS

1. Fake News has been around forever. Remember standing in line at the grocery store, pre internet days? Right at eye level were magazines with sensational headlines designed to entice you to buy them. Sometimes it was just too tempting to resist and I took the bait.  Most of the time I couldn't find the article that was on the front page. Other times it would be there but was something totally different from the sensational title. Fake News. Entertaining. No harm done.

2. Clickbait. This is another form of fake news. I saw them on Facebook all the time, not so much lately, thankfully. It's usually a sensational headline on a suggested post that gets you to click on it. A popular one was about a dead celebrity that you thought was alive. "Oh my God, they died?" CLICK. It turns out to be a major disappointment, a flim flam, bait and switch scam designed just to get your click so the advertiser can make money. Not nice. Pretty tacky. A little frustrating, not so entertaining, but still no real harm done.

3. Disinformation and Misinformation.  Distortions, fabrications, and other amusements. 

This is the stuff that SNOPES was created to combat. The ever circulating rumors and urban legends that are not true, yet people seem to believe them and pass them around and around on social media for years. No, you can't protect your privacy on Facebook by "cutting and pasting" a disclaimer. There is no couple trying to hack into your computer and drain its contents by friending you on facebook. And a bunch of others. They are annoying. Most are harmless. Do us all a service and fact check your stuff if it looks at all suspicious. Sometime people throw around stats that have no actual information behind them, like Trumps unemployment rate. The purpose of this misinformation is to make the person look more informed than they are. Very important for all of us to fact check and be discerning. If it seems crazy, it just might be.

4. Lies. Damn Lies. More Lies. I think most of us presume in this country that people tell the truth. Yes, of course there is wiggle room, interpretation, and perception issues, but basically we expect people, media, government to pretty much tell a version of the truth as Jack Nicholson would say.  Unless they don't. Famous lies include Nixon telling us he is not a crook and Bill Clinton's "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".  But now we are in a whole new ball game, where truth has become "alternative facts".


The Trump administration has taken lying to whole level never seen before.
Take for instance the nonexistent Bowling Green Massacre and the crowd size at Trumps inauguration. Side by side photos proved to our own eyes that Trumps crowd was not the biggest ever, yet the lies were repeated by Trump, Spicer and Kellyanne Conway.

Repeating what is not true until people start to second guess themselves is called gaslighting. It is a tactic designed to disempower and confuse.  As Chico Marx said, "who you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?". It is stunning to see Spicer, or Conway repeat the lies in the face of abundant and opposing evidence. But this is not to be dismissed as stupidity or craziness. Whether intentional, or incidental, it keeps people off balance, second guessing themselves, confused, bewildered and ineffectual.  It is also exhausting which may be the purpose, to wear the opposition down. John Podesta urges Americans to "maintain a heightened vigilance" and be wary of everything we read on social media. But also be wary of any effort, particularly from the White House, to disorient or discredit reliable information."

We all must continue to fact check and keep truth alive and visible! 

5. Propaganda. This is the malignant version of lies and fake news. Propaganda is information that may or may not be true, is generally biased or misleading and is used to promote a political cause or point of view. The master manipulator of propaganda was Joseph Goebbels. He could spin anything and get you to believe exactly what he wanted you to believe. The current administration is using propaganda to promote an agenda of fear. The repeated message is that we are not safe, people different from us, immigrants (of which most of us are) are dangerous and that he alone can save us. This is untrue and needs to be challenged on every front.

UPDATE: After a disorganized and rambling press conference recently, Trump silenced a Jewish reporter for asking a question about anti-semitism. After telling him to shut up and sit down, Trump responded that he was the least anti semitic person ever. Propaganda.  When Trump tells us repeatedly we are not safe and that he will make us safe: Propaganda. When we are told Muslims and immigrants are dangerous: Propaganda. What is most important is that we see through this rhetoric, support our journalists in their courageous job of reporting the truth and that we do not become too exhausted to stand our ground.


So that's my primer. Fake news of all kinds. Do know this: The truth is always the truth.  Our media is not perfect, but it is an important part of the fabric of our democracy! Media is not the enemy of the American people, it is its saving grace.

Alfred Worm. Journalist.