The daily influx of emails from some of my more Fox News-oriented friends revealed a couple of real gems. Apparently no one does any fact-checking whatsoever these days; people are happy to forward any politically motivated chain letter so long as it coincides with their own political leanings.
First on our list is this picture of a “clothing tag”:
The image was followed by a message in huge letters proclaiming that “small business [was] alive and well in America.”
What this email forgot to mention was that this tag is from a laptop bag made by a Seattle company back in 2004. The president being referred to was George W. Bush.
I guess whoever found this image and randomly decided to email it to people, insinuating that it was referring to President Obama, probably forgot that while the French were not crazy about Bush, they actually love Obama. That alone should have clued them in to the fact that this was about Bush, but of course, as always, reaching that conclusion requires a healthy dose of logic.
The second contender of the day in our fresh batch of anti-Obama propaganda is a “message from Grand Isle“, which claims that during Obama’s visit to Grand Isle, his cronies brought in bus load after bus load of workers to make it seem like a cleaning operation was taking place there. You know, as if Obama was doing something.
This same letter, the author of which remains conveniently unknown (but whom everyone seems to claim to know through a friend), also claims that no one came to see President Obama, to wave any flags, and that the entire island literally ignored his presence there.
This, of course, is supposed to suggest that no one likes President Obama. Everybody hates him. Guess he should go eat some worms.
What boggles my mind is that if Grand Isle residents are concerned about the effects of the BP oil spill which threatens their livelihood, and the most powerful man in the country – if not the world – is visiting the location, why would they choose to ignore his presence? How does ignoring a visit from an extremely powerful Commander-in-Chief improve the oil spill situation?
If there is an opportunity to talk to the President, shake hands, and ask questions, and if indeed no clean-up crews have bothered to show up to Grand Isle before, then wouldn’t you want to, you know, bring it up? Maybe?
Oh, and in case it matters: the workers being bussed into town were actually there courtesy of BP, to clean up their public profile. These workers had nothing to do with Obama or the federal government.
But hey, cool story, bro.
Mika Salakka is a Finn living in the United States. He is a nursing assistant, a creative writer, a devoted husband, and an observer of the human condition. His interests range from music and literature to psychology, sociology, medicine, technology, and spirituality.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
And every time I try telling the non-left to stop with the freaking chain letters and why, I get dismissed and ignored!