Fact Checking Frustrations

For the entire four years of Trump's presidency I did not publish anything on Facebook about my belief that he was unfit for office. I largely ignored propoganda sent to me from friends and relatives. Following the events of January 6th, I decided to make my views known. In response, I was sent the following video by a relative and Trump supporter: click here The 19 second clip shows Barrack Obama saying: "ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs, that order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign."

To most it will be obvious that this quote is taken out of context. That anyone could take this seriously without checking the context is laughable and beyond reason. Yet millions of Americans do just this. A simple google search reveals numerous articles which demonstrate that the full context reveals that Obama is saying this is NOT what is good for the world. Unfortunately, Trump supporters see all of these articles as part of "fake news" and "liberal mass media." Knowing this, I knew I could not respond to this person with any of these links. Instead, I would have to find the full video of the speech, and type each word out as it exited Obama's mouth. This is precisely what I did:

Barrack Obama speaking to European leaders: "Throughout human history, societies have grappled with fundamental questions of how to organize themselves: the proper relationship between the individual and the state, the best means to resolve inevitable conflicts between states. And it was here in Europe through centuries of struggle, through war and enlightenment, repression and revolution, that a particular set of ideals began to emerge: the belief that through conscence and free will, each of us has the right to live as we choose. The belief that power is derived from the consent of the governed and that laws and institutions should be established to protect that understanding. And those ideas eventually inspired a band of colonialists across an ocean, and they wrote them into the founding documents that still guide America today. Including the simple truth that all men and women, are created equal. But those ideals also often been tested, here in Europe and around the world. These ideals have often been threatened by an older more traditional view of power. This alternative vision argues that ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs, that order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign."

The source of the text is the full video of the speech click here.

It should be clear that this is going above and beyond in an attempt to show a Trump supporter that they have been mislead. However, even after all this, the response I recieved back was "Simple minded as we are the government is not the institution we should surrender our God given rights to. That is what they want. This war is good against evil plane and simple."

This is an intelligent person who I love and respect. Yet from their response, it seems very much like they did not understand any of the information I sent to them and probably didn't even read it at all. If an intelligent person I love and respect responds in this way, imagine the effect this sort of thing can have on more gullible and less educated Americans.

As I write this, I have recieved another response from the person who sent me this video: "Reuters is not a particularly well known news agency when it comes to the public consciousness." (This is after I had already sent them the transcript and made it clear that I typed it myself as I listened to Obama and watched his lips moving. I sent a Reuters article as an afterthought, mentioning that they would likely not trust it and that was why I was felt compelled to manually transcribe the section of the speech.)

Again, it is evidently clear that the person did not actually take the time to read what I sent them. I took the time to watch the speech and transcribe 199 words as they came out of the president's mouth. And the person I am speaking with is so blinded by their world view that they cannot even take the time to fullly read anything which might disagree with them. If this was not a regular occurance in my life, I would not have made a post about it. Unfortunately, this has happened to me more times than I can count. After spending between 200-500 hours (perhaps more, but I am trying to be conservative) over the last four years fact checking claims sent to me from my Trump supporting friend and relatives, I can say, without exaggeration, that 100% of the videos and articles that I have been sent and fact checked have contained misleading information as in the above example. If I encounter, think of, or remember a single instance where a claim made by a Trump supporter which I felt compelled to fact check ends up being true, I will edit this statistic.