April 29, 2010

More and the false "both sides do it" argument

I am not sure this is conclusive evidence of any kind, but it certainly is interesting that Snopes has far more false and negative rumors about Obama already than occurred during Bush's entire term:
"After eight years in the White House (with Snopes.com around all that time), George W. Bush has been the subject of 47 internet rumors. After less than two years in office, Barack Obama has been the subject of 87, or nearly twice as many.

Even more telling is the relative accuracy of those stories. For Bush, 20 rumors, or 43%, are true. Only 17, or 36%, are false. The remainder are of mixed veracity (4), undetermined (4), or unclassifiable (2).

In contrast, for Obama only 8 of the 87 rumors, or 9%, are true, and a whopping 59, or 68%, are whoppers. There are 17 of mixed veracity and 3 undetermined."
The fact that so many of those false rumors are so denigrating AND are passed like candy among the religious right makes me sad. Very sad.

4 comments:

Noah said...

Commence navel-gazing and copious "yeah-but" in 5...4...

steves said...

Since I have been frequently accused of saying both sides do it, I wanted to point out that snopes, a site run by 2 people, is hardly and objective measure of what is happening. I am not suggesting they are biased, but if a survey of snopes is enough to convince you, then knock yourself out.

Streak said...

Uh, Steve, I said the following in the original post: I am not sure this is conclusive evidence of any kind,

I understand you are dealing with a new job and new pressures, but you need to give me a break here, and at least criticize me for the stuff that I actually suggest rather than simply speaking for me.

And yeah, I am annoyed. Sorry in advance. But dammit....I put a fucking qualifier in the original post. What more should I do?

steves said...

Sorry.

What more should I do?

Relax.