A Victim of Social Media!

Yes, Ann Coulter was a media victim when she believed that the U.S. had infiltrated Egypt.
Most of the U.S. was a victim of media with Y2K and the swine flu.


And though I'd managed to stay out of all that hype I too now have found myself a victim of social media! Gasp! (Imagine the back of my hand on my forehead as I recover from a near fainting spell. Then over-dramatically tossing my head from side-to-side as I rightfully slap each cheek!)


How did this happen you ask?


Well, let me tell you...


It all began Memorial Day 2011. I received an e-mail from someone I respected-- and still do. The e-mail showed thousands of American graves in countries other than the U.S. The cemeteries were of American soldiers who had died while fighting for the countries they had died protecting. 

Written at the head of this e-mail was something that appalled me. It read: Our European Arrogance. Now at the beginning of the e-mail I could not understand why the content following would be considered arrogant... that is until after 20 images of cemeteries I read this:

Apologize to no one. 

Remind those of our sacrifice and don't 

confuse arrogance with leadership.

The count is 104,366 

dead, brave Americans.

Remember these, this Memorial Day.

And we have to watch an 

American elected leader who 

apologizes to Europe and the 

Middle East that our country is "arrogant"!

HOW MANY FRENCH, DUTCH, ITALIANS, 

BELGIANS AND BRITS ARE BURIED ON 

OUR SOIL... AFTER DEFENDING US 

AGAINST OUR ENEMIES?

WE DON'T ASK FOR PRAISE...

BUT WE HAVE ABSOULUTELY NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE!

At the time I was--as you can expect--offended, to say the least. It only added to my discontent with the current presidency. The fact ( notice this word here. We will come back to it later) that our Presidency would apologize for our soldiers being buried in the countries they died for was outrageous.

Now fast-forward to the current date. A friend of mine on facebook posted a rather unusual video and upon watching it I was disturbed. (I'm not going to add it here because it really is quite disturbing and I feel that showing it would work against my goal for this blog.)

Immediately, my mind was taken back to another time that I was just as disturbed. A time when I was informed that the leader of our country completely dismissed the bravery, sacrifice and worth of 104,366 of our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers, for a reason that I cannot fathom.

Well, I decided to share what this video brought to my mind on his facebook. To back it up I did a bit of internet checking (notice I did not say research) and --after filtering through SEVERAL blogs, sites and articles that bashed on more than just this incident-- I found one article that spoke directly of the inconsiderate remarks of said leader, and I posted it. 

Now, what I had failed to do was actually WATCH the alleged offenders speech for myself. Thanks to my friend Jon, who --unbeknownst to him-- pointed this folly out to me. I looked up the speech-- and it was hard to find one that was NOT edited by someone who hated it-- and watched it for myself.


Lo and behold! There was no mention of the soldiers, no apology for their final resting places nor any minimizing of their efforts. 

I don't discount that his speech failed to mention or acknowledge the sacrifices that America has made on behalf of these countries. However, I believe his aim was to make a point that America does not hold itself in a higher esteem than Europe. It is my understanding that our relationship with Europe is on rocky ground; and sometimes to mend a relationship you have to apologize even when you feel you are not in the wrong.

Europe is well aware of our sacrifices. To bring up our past sacrifices when trying to come to an agreement is like saying, "I've made mistakes. You've made mistakes, but let's not forget all the sacrifices I've made and all the good I've done for you. So, in light of that I'm clearly the better person here. Now don't you think you should do what I say?" Sounds rather counter productive to me.  

That's when it hit me! I have been a victim of Social Media AKA someone who neglectfully listens and spouts out hearsay like gospel rather than learning the FACTS for themselves and forming their OWN opinion.

I slapped myself a couple times. I've prided myself on being someone who does not believe in gossip and never repeats something that I don't know as irrefutable fact. Shame, shame.

I'd like to make it clear that I am not saying that the person who sent me the e-mail or the person who wrote the article are wrong, they simply have their own perspective and consequently a different opinion than my own. The varying views of individuals is one of the great things that makes this world so diverse and interesting.

I think the point I'd like to make here is that you cannot always believe what you hear or read; and as the many videos that I found to be sliced and spliced prove, you cannot always believe what you see either.

So, be open to the truth and be able to admit when you are wrong.  And for the sake of all that is good and holy don't post about it until you've done your research and have given yourself the benefit of forming your OWN informed opinion!

Here is the video of Obama addressing Europe.