Those wacky politicians

I'll explain Weiner's behavior for those of you who have not yet figured it out: Most men need sex. Regularly. The convo in the head goes like this," Me want penis in vagina now. Not care what happens. Me use internet, get hot girl to take care of penis. It possible, me rich. No one know..."

The Death of Research

Since Bin Laden's death was announced on Sunday, there seems to be a sudden influx of quotes either supporting or condemning the way in which Bin Laden died. I've seen quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Oscar Wilde, and so on and so on. All great thinkers; all giants of history. Unfortunately, pretty much all of the quotes have been either completely wrong or rewritten to suit the ideological view of the original poster. Is it a mass conspiracy to change history for the purposes of setting agendas and winning supporters? Perhaps, but highly unlikely. Is it because people in general have come to rely on the internet as their sole provider of information and have either forgotten or never learned how to obtain proper primary and secondary sources and fact check information? I would have to say...absolutely.

Here's the purported MLK quote that is currently enjoying the most visibility on the web thanks to the countless social networks; chief among them, Twitter and Facebook: "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy."

As Megan McArdle of The Atlantic writes, "What 'thousands' would King have been talking about? In which enemy's death was he supposed to be rejoicing?" As historical records tell us (and the rhetorical question Megan asked imploring people to use some common sense and a little research), King never made such a statement. Yet the internet tells us he did, and thousands suddenly believe he did, as though King himself was speaking from the grave and giving lip service to current events; and King's memory gets tainted, just like that.

This is how the internet has turned so many people into suckers. By stating something as fact and attributing it some widely known public figure. Remember the Get Free Money From Bill Gates emails? The ones that promised you a heaping pile of free cash straight from Bill Gate's fat wallet and all you had to do was forward an email from your friend to as many friends as you could? Does that remind you of any thing that could have happened before the advent of the internet? Perhaps, a chain letter? Those of us born before 1991 remember.

Too many people regard the internet as 90% fact, 10% false when in reality, it's the other way around. Why do you think so many colleges and universities do not allow students to use Wikipedia (or any internet source really) as a main source in their papers? Because there is literally no oversight to the vast majority of information on the internet. So the next time you see a quote that you think speaks so perfectly to a current event or so implicitly speaks to how you feel, do some non-internet research before posting said quote. It'll save you from looking foolish.

To those who are wondering, here is the actual MLK quote BEFORE it was rewritten: "The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

-Martin Luther King, Jr. Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, pp. 62–63 (1967)