All right, I admit it. I'm evil.
I'm evil for insisting that letter-writers leave out debunked falsehoods. I'm certainly evil for asking, if neither Stephanie nor I can find something, that writers (columnists, too) provide their sources. And yep, I'm evil for asking people to keep it clean, as this is a family newspaper.
Sure, we could just run everything we receive, though, in addition to random falsehoods, that would include every letter that comes in from people who just can't wait 30 days (or 30 minutes, in some cases), as well as those full of expletives and other non-family friendly/breakfast-test worthy bon mots.
Any letters editor at a daily newspaper like ours who tells you every letter is printed is not being honest. We simply can't, due both to volume and to content that proves to be unusable for one reason or another, most often for things that aren't true.
"But the Internet said," I hear you saying. As we've learned, the Internet is not always right, and some people have a hard time distinguishing satire from reality.
I'm not talking about the usually funny, mostly well-done stuff, like that from Andy Borowitz and The Onion. No, this would be the unfunny "news" found on sites that specialize in manufacturing content which, unfortunately, all too many people believe. No, World News Daily Report is not a reliable source, nor is News Examiner. The "satire" tags and disclaimers should be a clue, but ...
If I were to believe everything the Internet says, I'd believe:
• President Obama signed an executive order to rescind recognition of the pledge of allegiance.
This one, which originated on spoof website abcnews.com.co (that .co at the end is a dead giveaway), talks of Executive Order 13738, which it says bans the pledge in public schools and makes it "illegal for any federally funded agency to display the pledge or for any federal employee to recite, or encourage others to recite, the pledge while on duty." Executive Order 13738, however, has nothing to do with the pledge, and instead is about labor law and private contractors.
• Donald Trump told People magazine nearly 20 years ago that if he ever ran for president, he'd do so as a Republican because "they're the dumbest group of voters in the country" and that he "could lie and they'd still eat it up."
FactCheck and People checked the People archives and found nothing similar to the quote in any year, and no Trump interviews at all in 1998 when it was supposedly printed. FactCheck also did a Nexis search and didn't find any such quote by Trump in any major U.S. publication. This story started as a meme, and isn't true. (Oh, say it isn't so! Memes never lie!)
• "Peaceful" and "tolerant" liberals beat a female Trump supporter at a Trump rally.
Conservative Nation tweeted the image of a bloodied blonde posted by a Facebook user, but the image was actually a makeup test for Australian actress Samara Weaving on the campy Starz series Ash vs Evil Dead. Series star Bruce Campbell and others outed Weaving's reappropriated Instagram image as a hoax. Yes, there have been reported assaults by and against Trump supporters, but this wasn't one of them, and the actress was none too happy her set photo was being used for political purposes.
As Campbell tweeted, "Sad."
• Hillary Clinton is a felon who has committed (or directed) crimes including murder, treason, and racketeering.
Gotta love all the Hillary criminal stories. No, Hillary is not a warm and fuzzy person, but that doesn't mean she's guilty of anything other than a near-maniacal, misguided need for privacy that tends to direct so many of her actions. Yes, she's done some politically stupid things (that email server comes instantly to mind). However, criminal charges have this strange requirement for evidence, and thus far, no charges have been filed against her for any scandal I could find, and thus, no convictions.
But sure, all the hoaxers and haters must be right; people with prickly personalities and anyone who's ever told a lie should be in jail. That'll larn 'em. Evidence, shmevidence!
Wait ... I think that would mean there won't be many people left on the outside ...
I know some letter-writers are not fans of fact-checking, but if everything you've stated as fact is true, you should have nothing to fear. Threats, harassment, and dragging your feet on documentation for things we're unable to track down don't exactly help your case.
Seriously, we don't like even the thought of lawsuits here, and even though people like The Donald and Hillary are public figures, we won't knowingly publish something that is false, or convict someone in print of something they haven't been found guilty of in a court of law.
And no, we also won't get in the middle of disputes with businesses, neighbors or anyone else, or do your research for you.
I know. Shame on us, spoiling all the fun.
Did you forget I'm evil?
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Assistant Editor Brenda Looper is editor of the Voices page. Read her blog at blooper0223.wordpress.com. Email her at blooper@arkansasonline.com.
Editorial on 09/14/2016