It is well known that the best lies are true ones. That’s why fundamentalists, like the Devil in the temptation story in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, pepper their claims liberally (if you’ll excuse the pun) with Bible verses.
A great example of this is the e-mail currently circulating about how Barack Obama removed an American flag from his plane, and perhaps worse still, replaced it with a logo representing himself.As Snopes.com indicates, this is indeed “true” – as are most things, from “a certain point of view”, to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi. And many people who are at least smart enough to visit Snopes.com nonetheless fail to look at the rest of the story. I saw this recently in an e-mail about a supposed virus threat, which likewise claimed Snopes “true” status. But if one actually read the linked information at Snopes, one learned that the e-mail in question was one that made false, exaggerated claims about a real virus.
The important question is not just whether something is true but whether it is the whole story. And so here’s some more of the story about the Obama plane. He removed an airline logo that included an American flag in the logo the airline in question. His plane still bears the same standard U.S. Flag that all American planes do. John McCain’s plane doesn’t have an American flag on its tail.Everyone loves a good story. And we love a nasty bit of gossip about someone we love to hate. The challenge for those who are seeking to hold themselves to some sort of moral standard or other is to dig a little deeper and seek as much of the story as we can come by. Is there anyone reading this who has no recollection of ever making a snap judgment based on insufficient information and regretting what ensued as a result? Why do people drop all critical thinking skills in relation to people they don’t like, for whatever reason?
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