References Should Not Be Available Upon Request
Whew! Man, do I have a whole lot of catching up to do! It’s been nearly a month since I’ve written anything politically oriented. Definitely need to get back on the ball and get some thoughts out.
First, let me start off by mentioning something that a recent commentator of my blog made. His comment was that while I do a pretty good job with my blog posts, I should consider citing my sources more. After all, nothing looks more professional than when you cite where you’re getting your facts, right? As he put it:
Clear and concisely referenced resource material is what sets the expert apart from the fear monger.
It’s funny because many of the political commentators I poke at (Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, just to name a few) don’t do this. It’s as if they’re saying, “Don’t worry. You can trust us. You know we’re right anyways.” Well, maybe they’re right, maybe they’re wrong. Either way, it doesn’t hurt to cite where you’re getting your facts. You can’t just say “I read this article in the New York Times the other day” and leave it at that. Which article? Got a link? What’s the title? Who wrote it and when?
The irony is that many of the folks who write highly opinionated stories don’t cite their sources. If they did and if those sources were legitimate and fact-based then they would be a whole lot more credible. But the fact that they don’t creates a situation where you’re not quite sure what to believe. People make stuff up all the time and, while some of it might have a ring of truthiness to it, it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s based on a lie. As such, I have gotten in the habit of vetting many of the stories I read and hear and posting a reply on what I find…especially if it’s something quite controversial or political in nature. It may take a little time but it’s better than just allowing people to believe in something that isn’t true.
From now on, I’ll do my best to cite sources when I claim anything to be a fact. This is a good thing because, let’s face it, writers can claim facts all day long but unless they cite their sources how do we even know they’re putting the facts in the right context? Let me give you a good example.
Last week I received an email about sending the ACLU a Christmas card this year:
What a clever idea!
Yes, Christmas cards. This is coming early so that you can get ready to include an important address to your list.
Want to have some fun this CHRISTMAS? Send the ACLU a CHRISTMAS CARD this year.
As they are working so very hard to get rid of the CHRISTMAS part of this holiday, we should all send them a nice,
CHRISTIAN card to brighten up their dark, sad, little world..
Make sure it says “Merry Christmas” on it.
Here’s the address, just don’t be rude or crude. (It’s not the
Christian way, you know.)ACLU
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York , NY 10004Two tons of Christmas cards would freeze their operations because they wouldn’t know if any were regular mail containing contributions. So spend 44 cents and tell the ACLU to leave Christmas alone. Also tell them that there is no such thing as a ” Holiday Tree”. . . It’s always been called a CHRISTMAS TREE!
And pass this on to your email lists. We really want to communicate with the ACLU! They really DESERVE us!!
This is pretty typical of the usual fear mongering drivel I receive now and then. The problem is that none of it is true, nor is it anything new. In fact, this particular email has been recycled just about every year for the past four years[1].
Funny thing is that I reference snopes.com about this very email in a reply and I’ll be damned if I didn’t get another email back that talked about how the people who run snopes.com are left-wing Liberals! However, a simple search on Google for ‘snopes Mikkelson‘ immediately revealed at least three different legitimate sources, including one on FactCheck.org[2], that tell a much different story. Took just 5 minutes and I found out all I need to know. Next thing you know someone will write a bit about how the organization running FactCheck.org is a bunch of tree-hunging hippies. ”Damn hippies!” LOL!
Interesting thing to think about though…both Snopes.com and FactCheck.org cite their sources at the bottom of the page.
On the Snopes page about the ACLU Christmas Cards (see link in footnotes), they cite sources from The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and also provide links to articles on the BBC[3] and a post on the ACLU website written by the Executive Director[4]. All of these are good sources and provide facts about the whole ACLU Christmas card debate. To claim it to be anything else is foolish because there are no facts to support it.
While reading an article in Wired magazine, I read the following sentence that put it all in perspective for me:
Being rational takes work, education, and a sober determination to avoid making hasty inferences, even when they appear to make sense.
Nothing could be closer to the truth. Whether it’s the bit about the ACLU Christmas cards, Barack Obama’s birth certificate[5], or some other story that has been fabricated on pre-conceived ideas, the bottom-line is that there are a lot of people who react in highly emotional and visceral ways that defy logic and rationality.
The next time you receive something of questionable content that doesn’t cite any sources, don’t take it at face value. Take just a little time out and look up the facts. Look it up on Google, Yahoo, Bing, or wherever. Get the facts from a reputable source. Educate yourself and be in the know. It doesn’t take much time and you’ll be glad you did.
