If it's juicy enough, we'll believe it
Sometimes people crack me up. A "Your Turn" comment in the April 2 paper claimed democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and asked to be sworn in as governor with his hand on the Koran.
Well, first off, he is not and has never been a governor. He is a senator from Illinois.
That right there should discredit anything the person said in Your Turn.
Still, he or she is not the only one who feels this way.
Obama was photographed with hands by his side during a playing of the National Anthem (which by the way is not against the law), but never refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
And if the person did a little checking, he or she would have found that it was not Obama, but Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison who posed for a picture after his induction with his hand on the Koran.
Ellison did not however swear in with the Koran.
But get this: (gasp) Ellison was Muslim. Why would he swear on the Christian Bible?
Last time I checked we were a country that does not persecute based on religious beliefs.
But what is really funny about this person is he or she did do some fact-checking, and found out a politician does not have to be sworn in with his or her hand on any book.
However, he or she just heard something, probably from Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh no doubt, second hand about Obama, and believed it.
Unfortunately, that is how so many people tend to operate. We hear what we want to hear.
We research and research the things we want to make sure are accurate, but not the ones we want to keep false.
I am not writing this so much to defend Obama, although he will more than likely get my vote in November, but to defend the fact that everyone should be considered innocent until proven guilty.
Not just in an election, but in our daily lives.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain had a story written about him in the New York Times that used sources a high school journalism teacher wouldn't allow in a school paper.
In other words, anonymous.
Turned out there was barely any merit to the story of an "inappropriate relationship" with a lobbyist.
It's an election, and of course false rumors are going to fly about every candidate.
It happens here in the city elections.
Everyone gets together and shares a story they heard about this candidate or that one.
And it's unfortunate to hear people, and the Your Turn author is only one of many I have heard say the same thing, take silly rumors, like the one about Obama, for Gospel.
If we all do some fact-checking and stop allowing the truth to be only what we want, maybe everyone will get a fair shot.
Unfortunately, we're probably going to just keep believing what we want.
That will get us real far.
— Mike Norris
