In Today’s Digital World, There’s One Born Every SECOND

I’m bored.

And it occurs to me that I haven’t picked a political fight in the last few days.

Then I came across this little bit of RWCB (Right Wing Click Bait) that was shared by a Facebook friend (who obviously doesn’t share my political beliefs). Normally, I just zip by these. But this was a car wreck that I just HAD to look at.

So please, read it. Whichever way you lean politically, read it. Then come back. I’ll wait for you. Go ahead. I’ll be right here humming the theme from “Jeopardy”.

OK…you read it?

Now, here’s the thing; I have spent the better part of my professional career as a radio advertising copywriter. I know how to manipulate words so that they make economy cars seem like Ferrari’s and turn lowly fast-food hamburgers into gastronomical orgasms.

But people who write for blogs like U.S. Chronicle? They do me one better. They make something out of NOTHING. I mean, at least I start off with a Kia Sorrento or McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger. This guy molded, hammered and created a story that would make Seinfeld proud. Because it was about NOTHING.

Being the loyal Facebook friend that I am, I felt duty-bound to point this out to my digital pal. This is what I said;

“I’m sorry, but do you even read these “articles”? A hack who calls himself “phoenix” writing clickbait for an obviously extreme right-wing blog says that “an e-mail” has just surfaced proving that Sec. Clinton had a military option in Benghazi. Who was the email from? Doesn’t say. Who was the email to? Doesn’t say. How do we know it was about Clinton? Oh well, hell…everyone in DC knows that her nickname is “S”. The only citation in the article is Judicial Watch (another conservative organization). I’ll grant you this, it’s cleverly written to give the average reader the impression that it’s substantive. Like making it look as though it came from the Pentagon. But look closely at the actual sentence: “According to the email, the Pentagon was urging…” Not, “According to the Pentagon email…” or “An email from the Pentagon…” Not even the classic “Pentagon source…” No, the only source is the email itself. Which by the way, is conspicuously missing. A real news story would have an actual image of the actual email. Throw in a couple of generic “Generals” who could never be tracked down and top it off with a consultation with the “Joint Staff” (meant to make you believe that they were talking to the Joint Chiefs of Staff…except that the only abbreviated title that anyone ever uses is “Joint Chiefs”) and they gotcha. Hook, line and sinker. Finish it up with a little conspiracy theory, “… or do you think it will be brushed aside with every other accusation against her?” and you’ve got the perfect little bubble. “Only phoenix at the US Chronicle had this story! All those other hacks swept it under the rug!” Sorry, but THIS is the true lame-stream media.”

The moral of the story; There’s enough shit to dislike about most any politician that you don’t have to resort to fairy tales like this. There are REAL stories about political chicanery. On ALL sides. The only things that I think when someone shares a story like this are, A: You’re a gullible dumbass. B: You need these stories to feed your hatred. Or C: You’re a gullible dumbass.

And in the interest of political fairness, there are bloggers on BOTH sides of the political aisle that write this claptrap. As a dyed in the wool liberal, I not only avoid most any site that uses words like “Conservative”, Patriot”, “Liberty” or “American” in their name. I also avoid the ones that use “Liberal”, “Progressive” and “Left”.

Mostly because I want to be informed. Not influenced.

I leave you with the two axioms that I apply when cruising the interwebs:

“Just because you want it to be true doesn’t mean that it is.”

And my favorite;

“With so much information available, ignorance is a choice.”

as;@sG�#