Another

So by all means...let's spread it around as a quote because ya know....he totally coulda said it.

Not what I said at all is it? I said it was believable, and that is sad. I didn’t say that people shouldn’t fact check things for themselves. But I shall explain something to you which you may find helpful. In a moment, when humans see something, we make a determination based on experiences and emotions. It’s a survival instinct, and in survival situations it can be quite helpful to not hesitate. However! We have higher reasoning, and in most daily endeavors we have the luxury that we don’t have to immediately react based on the first instinct of emotion or whatever compels the tiny lizard part of our brain. So we can in fact, stop, apply critical thought, examine our emotions, why we felt that way and if it is logical or prudent...

Ya got me.
Put me right in my place.

We can, before we speak on a matter, before we act, before we share (mis)information or even reply to a post- we can gather information and think it out. This elevates is beyond animal instinct or the simple “input/output” of a machine made of meat. It’s a skill that many, even in this day in age, just aren’t practiced in or interested in, but it could help eliminate things like this spread of misinformation we see here, or for example, an assumption based reply.

Gosh you're right. I am shamed.

If we examine the latter of the two- your reply to my comment suggests that my comment inherently implies that having a talking fart box as President means that we don’t have to think critically; or that it is mutually exclusive to the idea that making an assumption is wrong. That is not true. The logic of that conclusion is faulty.

I have been schooled!

The comment, when we understand the basics of human cognition- is exactly as I have described. When we see a quote like that, our initial reaction to seeing it doesn’t have to be acted upon- but it DOES show where our cognitive bias is. We can then use fact checking and introspection to examine the truth of the matter and our own bias. But the fact you should fact check either way does not make it any less sad that most reasonable people would not for a moment think that quote was anything but fake if there was a picture of an Obama, JFK, even Ronald Reagan making such a statement.

So.... it’s sad for two reasons. It’s sad because while one should check ones facts before committing to an action or sharing a thing as true (when able to do so); and of course- that once upon a time the distance between satire and reality was much wider. It wasn’t so hard to tell fact from reality or mockery from quotation.

It’s sad because while we know politicians have always to some degree benefitted from their power- the country has to question wether the president was being honest that he caught a virus, wether he is being honest when he says he is cured, wether he is pushing to release a treatment to the public to benefit his own reelection and a company which he is vested in, or wether he actually has a valid treatment that could save lives.

We’ve come a long way from when Jimmy Carter gave up his farm to avoid conflict of interest with his office, to when a president shills beans and takes state guests to his owned property and charges the tax payers for the membership dues, when he pushes in the media and the FDA openly to get approval for a treatment l for a deadly pandemic- made by a company he is directly financially tied to.

The fact that all those things and many more are very sad, doesn’t mean people shouldn’t think critically, shouldn’t fact check and take time to compose thoughts worth having before they open their mouths. It means that the fact that we need to fact check every single thing a president says or does..... that’s sad. The voice of the American people, the voice of government to the American people... who says things that are so outrageous, so patiently false- that unless you see him say it- you have no idea if it is true he said it or not. That is sad.