As an exercise in critical thought, here are five items you might believe if you take the media at face value.
- Foreign aid actually helps foreign citizens.
The
overwhelming majority of US foreign aid is distributed to the military
and economic interests of despots and dictators. To compare: in 2011,
the US gave out a smidge over $7 billion for "State Department Global
Health and Child Survival." During the same period, military aid
expenditures totalled $1.78 trillion (this figure is only straight
military aid, not "security and terrorism prevention," or money used to
further the drug war).
Overlooking the fact that these
non-military funds would be overseen by the
henchmen of the very same despots and dictators that are black bagging
citizens in the middle of the night, here's a little perspective: that's
like having $178,000 in your pocket and feeding your kid on 7 bucks a
year. Oh, and the $7 has to go through the school bully on its way to
the kid.
- George Zimmerman was freed by Stand Your Ground laws.
George Zimmerman was acquitted by standard self defense laws that are
applicable (with slightly differing conditions) in all 50 states. SYG
played no part in his arrest and trial.
Just as an added bonus,
in Florida blacks and Hispanics have claimed SYG at a higher rate than
whites, with a higher rate of successfully averting prison terms and
therefore benefit more from the protection those laws provide. A little further reading on statistics...
- Sandy Hook/Newtown was the worst school massacre in the US.
Sandy Hook wasn't even the worst modern school killing, that dubious honor goes to Seung-Hui Cho and VA Tech.
The
actual worst in terms of casualties, deaths AND property damage goes to
the events of May 18, 1927 in the township of Bath, Michigan when a
deranged school board member wired the town elementary school, his
house, and his truck with more than a thousand pounds of dynamite and
then proceeded to shoot his wife and detonate his bombs, killing himself
and 44 other people, including 38 children. Life and property loss
could have been even worse but about half his stash of dynamite failed
to detonate. Bath school massacre
- Rand Paul is a Libertarian.
Rand stands with the following
items that disqualify the "libertarian" tag: enforcement and expansion
of the drug war, opposition to same sex marriage, border fences and
repealing birthright citizenship, voting for NeoCon Republicans over
Libertarian candidates, economic sanctions, and enforcing his view of
abortion on society at large, among other things.
Rand Paul is a
Tea Party Republican that shares a few views with libertarian
principles, notably his stances on the Fed, civil liberties (as long as
you're straight and not seeking an abortion), and foreign
interventionism...but make no mistake, he is NOT a Libertarian.
- Shark attacks are increasing, the MMR vaccine causes autism, Tim
Tebow is an NFL quarterback, Satanic daycare child abusers, Y2K,
poisoned Halloween candy, etc...
Any item that drives ratings,
page views, and clicks that does not have either basis in easily
repeated or checkable FACT, should be approached with a wary eye. For
example, in the summer of 2001 the US was subjected to the "Summer of
the Shark." From June until 9am September 11th, the US news and
entertainment was obsessed with a supposed increase in attacks, massive
schools of sharks off the coast in the Gulf threatening to take over the
world, the dangers of dipping your feet in the 6 inch deep brook behind
your house in Kentucky, and just generally driving as much terror as
possible. Discovery Network and others rushed badly produced and
inaccurate shark attack documentaries into production, and Discovery
began an increasingly hard push on the attack angle during its annual
Shark Week promotion that continues to this day. 9/11 happened and
knocked the shark out of the news that year, but the damage was done:
thanks to tabloid journalists and poor ethics by nature channels people
are terrified of the ocean and thinks sharks exist only to murder and
mutilate beachgoers and must be killed on sight.
The truth of the
matter is that there were statistically less attacks and less deaths
that year than average. No word on whether media hysteria kept enough
people out of the water to prevent Sharkmageddon™ or if it was simply
natural statistical variation.
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| A more accurate depiction of shark activity than US television... |
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