All I Want Is The Truth . . .

All I Want Is The Truth . . .

By Steve Blow, Columnist          Dallas Morning News

             Max in Richardson probably wishes he had never mailed me. I had the gall to ask a question.

            A few days ago Max forwarded me and 39 others an item about how President Barack Obama was irked with U.S. military veterans.

            It said Obama wanted veterans to carry private health insurance to cover service-related injuries, but that opposition forced him to scrap the idea.

            The e-mail said: The President admitted that he was puzzled by the magnitude of the opposition to his proposal.

            “Look, it’s an all-volunteer force,” Obama complained. “Nobody made these guys go to war. They had to have known and accepted the risks. Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice? It doesn’t compute . . . “I thought these were people who were proud to sacrifice for their country,” Obama continued. “I guess I underestimated the selfishness of some of my fellow Americans.”

            The e-mail cites the quotes as proof that Obama is “the worst president in American history” and urges readers to “pass this on to everyone.”

            I wrote back to Max and asked for the source of the quotes.

            “I wish I could,” he replied. “This was an e-mail that came to me, and I forwarded it. I have heard or read these comments before, but I don’t know the source.”

            A few minutes later he e-mailed me again. “My memory is not infallible,” he wrote, “but I seem to remember hearing these quotes on Channel 8 or Channel 4 news.”

            No, he didn’t.

            It took me about 60 seconds on the Internet to discover that the president never said those outrageous things.

            Of course not.

            The made-up quotes come from a satirical column written to ridicule the president.

            But now they get passed around as fact. And I sign once again over our low regard for truth these days.

            A few days before Max’s e-mail, I got a similar one. Seems like this guy’s name was Pete.

            He forwarded a popular e-mail making the rounds and asked why the media never reports such things.

            That was easy.

            “Because it’s not true,” I replied.

            This one had to do with Michelle Obama supposedly ordering champagne and caviar from room service at the Waldorf-Astoria. It even includes a copy of the signed bill.

            But it’s all bogus. Ms. Obama wasn’t even in New York at the time.

            I attached a link to a Web site with more information about the hoax. Pete wrote back: “No, not that. The other.”

            I scrolled further down his original e-mail and found the one about Ms. Obama supposedly having a far larger staff than any previous first lady.

            Not true either. Her staff may be slightly larger, but it’s right in line with that of Laura Bush and other predecessors.

            The Internet is a wonderful thing. It spreads information like never before.

            But it spreads lies just as quickly.

            Do we care? Or do we care more about smearing our political enemies?

            Neither Pete nor Max showed any hint of regret about spreading false information.

            This isn’t partisan concern. I’d say the same if this was circulating about a Republican in the White House. And, no, the jabs at former President George W. Bush never reached this level.

            It’s so easy to determine if a circulating e-mail is true or false. Go to www.snopes.com or www.factcheck.org. Or just type a few key words into Google.

            Please resolve to do that before forwarding anything. If you can’t confirm it, don’t send it.

            Our editorial pages embarked on a campaign last week to bring more civility into public discourse.

            That’s nice. But right now I’d settle for more truth.

This article originally appeared in the Dallas Morning News (2/28/10) and is reprinted with permission.