So here’s the story.
“Reportedly”, in response to pro athletes “taking a knee”
during the National Anthem at the start of football games, the pilots of the
New Orleans Saints’ team plane recently walked off at the last minute and
stranded the team on the tarmac before a big game.
This “big news” naturally broke on Facebook and was quickly
shared by many of the Captain’s patriotic and/or Right-Wing friends.
Full Disclosure:
The Captain is a Saints fan. Thus, this story immediately caught my attention.
As it made its second lap around the internet, a friend
immediately responded with, “FAKE!” Your Captain had already called it out a
couple weeks earlier, but decided to affirm my friend with, “Yes, this is not
true.”
That irritated another friend, whose blind, pro-Trumpf
support has become an increasing irritant.
She may soon find herself walking the plank.
Her question was, “How do you know it’s fake?”
I chose to not respond to her supposedly innocent question immediately,
wanting to think it through first.
The Captain sees this as a sign of the wisdom that comes
with age.
Before addressing that, lest anyone think the reporting of politically-slanted news
stories is anything new, just recall the term “yellow journalism”, coined in
the mid-1890s during the publishing wars between William Randolph Hearst and
Joseph Pulitzer.
Their use of large, exaggerated headlines and inflammatory
writing is said to have contributed to the U.S. entry into the Spanish-American
War.
As for the publishing of outright lies, one need only look
to the checkout lanes at your local grocery store.
No, the publishing of false or misleading news is nothing
new. The only difference is that now the internet makes it more pervasive and
accessible.
Captain’s Note: If Facebook is your only source of news, shame on you!
So back to my friend’s question: How do you know? Here is
how I will eventually respond to her.
The first test the Captain employs when determining whether
a news story is true of false (I refuse to say ‘Fake News’…) is the smell test.
Does it smell like bullshit?
You know, there are just some news stories that simply make
me say, “No way!”
Like the Stevie Wonder story shown above.
But celebrities have grown accustomed to that.
In the political realm, most news reports are slanted / self-serving.
And most of what I read today – from either political party – almost immediately
makes me question the integrity of the source.
For example, despite what many Democrats hope, I don’t believe the Russians
have a Trumpf “pee-pee tape”; and unlike many Republicans, I don’t believe the
proposed Trumpf budget will benefit the middle class.
My brain just screams, “Bullshit!”
And so I dig deeper.
The second test the Captain employs then – if it is
important enough to check out – is Snopes.com. Although many who create the
lies have tried to discredit Snopes, I still find it to be a good source of
non-partisan fact-checking.
And Snopes immediately declared the Saints airplane story to
be “FALSE”!
Third, I check other established, reliable news agencies to
see if they are also reporting this news.
No other legitimate news agency has reported on the Saints’
airplane story.
The Captain thinks that surely, if it was true, this would be a relevant story for
a national news broadcast, especially considering the turmoil that has been
stirred up over this peaceful protest.
Controversy means more readers / viewers – as Hearst and
Pulitzer discovered – which means more ad revenue and sales.
At least ESPN should have mentioned the Saints’ airplane
story.
There was nothing about it in the local news coming out of
New Orleans either.
Captain’s Note:
To stay informed of current events, the Captain regularly reads two national
newspapers online, watches a major network national news broadcast, and local
news broadcasts. Occasionally I will read other newspapers too.
After such research, the Captain feels confident to declare
a story to be false.
Finally, if necessary, I will check out the source that
originally posted a news story.
Often times their website will admit they publish satire.
That makes it easy.
Although...
But too many of these internet "news" sites today ply on the ignorance of the
typical American citizen and simply generate piles and piles of partisan bullshit,
shoveling it out to social media, where it is stepped in and tracked into our
homes.
Quite frankly, the Captain doesn’t want you stinking up my
home or my ship, so I call it as I see it. And I expect you to at least remove
your boots before tracking that stuff into my home.
As for my Facebook friends who disagree, "Sorry-Not Sorry"
when I don’t agree with your uninformed world view.
Mostly not sorry.
