Some day you’ll be heading to Snopes to check on the EPA’s new rules about spilled milk:
Spilled milk also surfaced at a March 3 hearing, when Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona grilled Lisa P. Jackson, the E.P.A. chief, over the alleged regulation. “How can the E.P.A. promulgate new rules like this?” Mr. Flake demanded. “What’s next — sippy cups in the House cafeteria?”
I hope you don’t think less of me but I have never been to Snopes. I never could understand why one would put complete faith in a website that proported to only report the facts on any given topic. There are many websites that would make the same claim. How do you choose which website to believe? I trust my own intellect to decide what to believe.
You might as well believe in the Bible.
Aw, come on, contrarian—your alias has never fit you better. If you’ve never been to Snopes, how can you intelligently make a statement like that?
Okay–here’s an example. I just received this expanded email that showed 7 large photographs of the inside of an obvious prison facility. The digs were modern and beautiful, really. Except for the size of the rooms and the very sterile but pleasing architecture, it could have been someone’s home. The text read: “New Cook County Correctional Center, Chicago, Illinois. (Oh yeah, they can also choose from the menu!)”
The email goes on in huge, blue letters: “Let me see now. Who was the US Senator who helped arrange the funds to build this beautiful “punishment center”??? Oh yes, it was Obama!!! No wonder he sees nothing wrong with the wasted spending in his “Stimulus Plan”. This is where he plans on putting the terrorists from Gitmo and we have Americans living in cardboard boxes on the streets that have never killed anyone.
“How’s that compare with “Sheriff Joe’s” prison in Arizona ????
PLEASE PASS ON!
MOST PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW THIS!
Well, there’s a good reason why most people do not know about this and that’s because it isn’t true. Because I always check on this crap that people send who simply will NOT take the time to check the validity, I googled “New Cook County Correctional Center, Chicago, Illinois”.
Lo and behold, what came up was this piece of informaton:
“Cook County Correctional Center – Analysis”
“The preceding photos, while authentic, do not depict the Cook County Correctional Center in Chicago, despite what is claimed in forwarded emails. The facility is the Justice and Detention Center in Leoben, Austria, designed by renowned architect Josef Hohensinn.
“Completed in 2005, the Justice Center houses the District Court and public prosecutor’s office as well as a prison designed “to optimize the quality of residence for employees and inmates.” Prisoners are housed in groups of up to 15 (to a total capacity of 205) and can move freely between their compact but well-appointed cells and communal spaces, which include exercise rooms, sports facilities, and outdoor courtyards. Needless to say, the thinking behind the institution represents a bold, new — and not uncontroversial — concept in prison design.
“No such facility exists in Chicago, Illinois.”
To make sure, I decided to check:
http://siap.org/goftman/2008/07/justice-and-detention-centre-l.html
I checked my Bible’s concordance and because there was no mention of Leoben, Austria I decided Snopes might be the better resource.
Now tell me, contrarian. What would your trusty intellect have told you about that email? Sadly, I have a feeling you would have believed it.
Ironically, the sender of this unfounded garbage sent another email a couple of hours later that said:
“my niece tells me this bldg does not exist,that she has been there (to the prison–don’t ask me why she was there!!!!) at any rate,don’t send it on to anyone”.
That was it. No apology for perpetuating a lie and then having the audacity to say, “don’t send it on to anyone”–after she had sent it to a gazillion people.
Thanks for the example, Sybil. I started to look for something similar to test Contrarian’s impressive intellect, too, but went back to work instead.
@Contrarian
>How do you choose which website to believe?
Well for starters, when you can’t easily tell who’s invested their time and resources to create the site or send the message, that makes the message less credible to me. Especially with the growth of digital media and the internet, I value transparency and accountability more and more.
I’m more with you Steve. Sybal, I’ve never been to Snopes. I delete all forwarded emails that have “Must read” or “pass it on” without reading them. How can you guys waste your time on that stuff? It’s all garbage.
I told my mother-in-law to stop sending me that stuff or I was going to block her. She persisted and I blocked her for a few months till she got the point. I’ve since unblocked her and we are all good.
The subject line never contains “pass it on” or “must read”. That is always at the end of these dumb emails. It just so happened that the subject line for the one to which I referred was, “Cook County Correctional Center”. I had no clue what that was about but didn’t have to get very far into the message to see that it was a lying, political diatribe. It IS probably a waste of time to try to head these things off at the pass, considering the types of individuals who insist on forwarding hateful messages, but since I have less important things to do than you, contrarian, I always try to give it my best shot.
One more thing. Garbage and lies are two different things. I don’t have time for the garbage; I make time for the lies.