Just the Facts, Ma’am
Dragnet. Joe Friday. If you’re from my generation, you remember the popular catch phrase from the 50’s and 60’s TV series Dragnet. It began as a radio show in 1949 before jumping to TV in 1951. Over the years it had several revivals and even a couple of movie versions, but my childhood memories are from the late 60’s version starring Jack Webb as Sgt. Joe Friday and Henry Morgan as his sidekick, Bill Gannon. Henry Morgan’s best role came decades later when he joined the cast of M*A*S*H to play the beloved Colonel Sherman T. Potter, but I digress.
When interviewing a shaken, nervous female witness, Sgt. Friday would invariably bring the rambling testimony back to the matter at hand with, “Just the facts, Ma’am.” Just the facts. What would the world be like today if we lived with “just the facts”? While I know this to be an unrealistic expectation, I would encourage people to put a bit more effort into discerning what the facts of today are.
Have you ever received an email promising you untold riches? Have you heard from my friend the Nigerian prince? Are you aware that by copying and pasting this essay in an email to your first cousin guarantees you a cash bonus of $10,000 paid by Microsoft?!? The most popular scams today involve notifications of sweepstakes winnings (which you never entered), inheritances from non-existent relatives, or generous rewards for helping transfer funds overseas. This must be a worldwide phenomenon. Some of the ones I get have been obviously translated from different languages because the wording is beyond awkward. These are easy to ignore, but what about an email with a dire warning? What if it’s true? Should I warn everyone else in my address book?
The classic example of this is a warning about a computer virus that will erase all data on your computer and drain your fish aquarium if you dare open it. You are told what subject title to look for, and then you are COMPELLED to warn all your friends, relatives, and semi-casual acquaintances. The ironic part of this situation is that if everyone sends this warning to everyone in their address books, the sudden volume of email would overwhelm email servers, causing as much trouble as a virus.
Unfortunately, there are some legitimate virus threats that can be passed in emails, but usually only through attachments. So how do you know if the email you got is valid?
I have been a long-time fan of snopes.com. It is extremely detailed and well-documented, focusing on the accuracy of email claims. Many of these are urban legends or virus hoaxes. Most of the “urgent” situations of which we’ve been warned started years ago, many of which have origins in the pre-email era of chain letters.
I recently received an email FWD from Lee Iacocca. It was a rant promoting his “new” book Where Have All the Leaders Gone?. In this diatribe, Mr. Iacocca blasts the conditions in America today and specifically President Obama and the Democrats. Guess what? Some quick investigation reveals that the book was written in 2007, the original criticism was directed at the Bush administration, and while some of the text was from the opening of the book, obvious editing had been done to redirect the anger at the current administration. Now in all fairness, Iacocca was no fan of Obama’s, either, but to change his words and use them in this manner I find very disturbing.
Thanks to the internet, misinformation can spread at record-breaking speed. However, thanks to the internet, we also have access to sources that allow us to check things out. I’ve already mentioned snopes.com. For those interested in seeking the truth about political claims, check out factcheck.org and politifact.com. These sites have been very busy lately and found a good bit of truth stretching at both conventions.
How about political misquotes? This is a favorite pastime of both parties. Romney’s “I like to fire people” comment was taken out of context and used by Democrats against him. Obama’s “You didn’t build that” quote has been similarly used. The sentence immediately before that now-famous quote was referring to roads and bridges--our infrastructure that none of us can individually take credit for. His point was that as Americans, we all owe a debt to the freedoms and resources our great country provides us. There was never any intent to discredit the individual successes of American businessmen. How many of our successful business people could duplicate their success if they had started out in Russia, Uganda, Iran, or any of a number of other countries?
I can respect a difference of opinion. For some inexplicable reason mankind seems to be wired from birth to draw completely different conclusions from the same set of facts. Hence we have raging debates over fiscal policies, scripture interpretation in church, leadership models, foreign policies, and a host of other issues that divide us. But what disturbs me most are passionate, emotional arguments based on misinformation. We are all guilty of hearing “what we want to hear” when it supports what we want to believe, but facts are facts, and with a little effort I think we can do better. Granted, the facts are not always evident or easily discerned, but that’s no excuse for not trying.
Four years ago commentators on a popular cable news show said that the people criticizing President Bush owed the office of president more respect than it was being given. A few months later, however, the same people were blasting the new president with unprecedented accusations including references to Hitler, communism, fascism, socialism, and few other bizarre “isms.” Almost immediately after Obama took office we witnessed town meetings where little old ladies tearfully begged, “We want our country back!” Back from what, I wonder? This country has transitioned between Democratic and Republican administrations countless times over the last couple of centuries. Have we ever seen this kind of reaction? Where does this fear and paranoia come from?
In the past two years we’ve heard alarming reports of Obama’s actions: his Thanksgiving address did not use the word “God”; his Christmas card was not “Christian” enough; he failed to deliver an appropriate Easter message; he said something about Muslims that was not hateful. I’m so tired of this, especially considering the fact that when compared to every president back to Reagan, the above actions are in no way out of the ordinary.
I have read both of Obama’s books. I read them before the ’08 election and found them very informative. I especially liked his first book, written in 1994, because I believe he had no idea at the time that his life path would take him to presidential politics. I suspect that otherwise he would have more carefully edited out some of his youthful indiscretions. Why would a 30-year-old bother to write an autobiography? After serving as the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review, he was asked by a publisher to tell his unique story. I could go on about his story, but anyone who wants to know more can more easily get this information from a simple on-line biography at http://www.biography.com/people/barack-obama-12782369 .
I sincerely believe that Obama is intelligent, Christian, and American. His unique background gives him a broader worldview than most, but I think that’s a plus for a world leader. I am proud when he represents our country abroad. I also think he has faced unprecedented rudeness from many of his fellow Americans, and he has handled it with a great deal of class.
I like Michelle, too. I like having an articulate, well-educated woman as First Lady. She reminds me of Laura Bush. I think Michelle and Barack do an excellent job of caring for their two precious daughters under the extremely stressful fishbowl that is the White House.
There will always be areas where we as a country disagree. Finding the balance between opposing views is what has made this country great for over two centuries. I’d like to see a return to civil discourse where “compromise” is not a bad word, and I’d like to see an electorate that seeks out the facts. I hope that in the future we base our choices on conviction and reason, not hatred and fear, and before we forward suspicious emails, let’s stick to “just the facts.” Just The Facts, Ma’am
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