Just putting this out there.
I do NOT get my news or information from social media. When I receive such things I either ignore them or trace them to the source (a background in military intelligence and accounting... investigation, fact finding, and analysis) comes in handy.
Over ninety percent of the ones I DO bother to trace, because they seem so egregious, turn out to be misrepresentations... not always even misrepresentations of facts... sometimes just plain misrepresentations.
Be aware, there are many self proclaimed (and sometimes UN-proclaimed) "parody", "satire", and just plain made up news sites out there.
Yes, there ARE people on the internet who sit down and CREATE false information for whatever THEIR purpose may be.
Once a bit of false news hits the internet, no matter which side of the political orientation it is aimed at, it assumes a life of its own, and, if it gets enough backers and promoters, it will build a large enough gathering, swearing it is true, to make it appear true.
I have encountered this phenomenon in business and the military many times, before there was an internet, with individuals doing the same thing... including times I have been misquoted and accused of saying things I have never said.
As one man told me after learning the truth about a company I worked for, after bad mouthing them for over 20 years, "So many people were saying it for so long I just figured it must be true, so I started saying it too."
Gonna try to follow the dictum of Sergeant Joe Friday (picture) of the old Dragnet radio show (yes, I'm THAT old), "Just the facts, ma'am."
Donovan Baldwin
