How We Get News/Information, Part Two

Americans, and indeed people all over the world, have always had to deal with rumors. Rumors are another form of information. A rumor may turn out to be fact or fiction, or something in between, but there’s no denying, rumors are a part of the information we have thrown at us. What is different is, in the age of the Internet, rumors can spread quickly; so quickly, that people with “agendas” can use rumors to further their own causes. In this day and age, unsolicited emails arrive with all sorts of “agendas;” from trying to sell us things, to trying to get us to click on a link that may take us to virus infested websites, to trying to get us to go to fake websites and provide personal information which can then be used to loot our bank accounts or even steal our identities. Then there are the “information” emails. These emails want us to believe that a person in one or the other political party is trying to do some nefarious thing. Usually these emails make some spectacular claim against a particular political figure, sometimes twisting truth to make it seem nefarious. And of course, the email frequently ends by urging the recipient to “pass along this email to all of your email contacts.” And just to prod the recipient further, the email “may” add, “If you don’t forward this email along to others, you’re not a good American,” or some such nonsense. Unfortunately, these things actually work at times, although I would guess that they work most often with people who are already predisposed to believing anything nasty about people they don’t much like in the first place. In that case, they actually serve to reinforce negative views of political opponents, but some folks, not necessarily predisposed to such beliefs, fall for them anyway. Another favorite expression used in these “propaganda” emails is, “This is something ‘they’ doesn’t want you to know,” or even, “You won’t read or hear this in the media.”

About a year and a half ago, I asked someone, a Republican, who they planned to vote for in the Republican primary. This person often passed along many of these political-type emails, mentioned above. The person answered something to the effect that, “I may not even vote. There isn’t anyone who really represents my views. John McCain is a traitor to America. I know the true story about him.” There was good news in this reply, that being there wasn’t anyone who represented that person’s views! There was no explanation as to why “John McCain is a traitor to America.” The man is a former POW, for Pete's sake! Don’t forget, this person was a REPUBLICAN! Just think what they must feel towards Democrats! Now, did this person get information about McCain from some email? I don’t know, but I do know that when I challenged some of this person’s forwarded emails, they didn’t like it, even replying one time, “I don’t want to get into a discussion about it!” Don’t forget folks, there’s that body part encased in your skull between your ears. Use it! Remember, just because you read something on the Internet, doesn’t make it true.

WORD HISTORY:
Prank-Linguists are uncertain of how English got this word, or perhaps it's modern meaning. English had a word "prank," (verb) which meant "to dress well, dress up." German, a close relative of English, has "prunk(en)," which has the same meaning, " to dress well," but also can mean "to show off, flaunt, strut," and Dutch, another close English relative, has "pronk(en)." By the 1500s, English had "prank," (noun) which for a time meant "malicious act," but which later softened to our modern meaning "a mischievous act." Whether this was derived from the verb is not known. "Prankster" seems to have been an invention of the American form of English. The original word is almost certainly related to "prance," which was used more in reference to horses, and whose relationship to "prank" is more easily seen in the German figurative sense, "strut."

Extremists Use Modern Technology

Just as the 9/11 hijackers used cells phones and the Internet for their purposes, our own extremists from both sides of the spectrum have found a degree of fertile ground by using the same technology. The way out factions send emails out claiming all kinds of nonsense, like Bush was behind 9/11, or Obama was born in another country, knowing full well that there are those whose curiosity, or dislike of a particular person, will cause them to open that email, and then pass it along to others. Thus rumors of all kinds of nonsense circulate unlike ever before in our history. Then when it grows to such a point, cable news takes note and mentions it, and the nonsense gains added life. Then when they beat the story to death, it goes to what I guess we still call the mainstream network news, ABC, CBS, and NBC (and PBS). The person who is, or the people who are, the subject of the rumor are more or less forced to respond, which also adds to the whole circus atmosphere.

Now, do people have a right to send out such emails? I suppose so, it's a free country, although there are laws about libel and slander, and I'm not a legal scholar to say what is, or what is not, legal in all of this. Of course, performers have been subject to all kinds of "scandal" stories for decades in the tabloids strategically placed by the check outs in supermarkets and drug stores. I seem to recall Lucille Ball ("Lucy") took one of these...ah..."publications" to court over some story, and she won! I've got to believe there have been other cases, too. I'm not advocating this process, as it gives these nuts more publicity than they're worth. Like Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels, the ring leaders of this nonsense know that the bigger the whopper, the more attention it will get! I just hope that any of you out there will NOT become party to such stuff. Be careful opening emails from people unknown to you (for one thing, they can contain viruses), and please, please, don't jump to the worst possible conclusions if you do read an outrageous claim in an email or hear the same on radio or television, just because it is about someone you dislike politically. Don't like them, don't vote for them! Don't like them, write a letter or letters to the editor, or engage in some public debate over the issues, but please stay away from this Nazi....I mean nasty...nonsense!
(A word history next time)