How a truth becomes a lie-snopes misused

In every man sleeps a prophet, and when he wakes there is a little more evil in the world.
Emile M. Cioran 

People who have a particular agenda know how to manipulate you.  There have been many books and classes offered on manipulation and many salesmen and politicians and their supporters use these techniques.  Although allowed in politics and product sales, the results of some of these techniques are not allowed in court as the result of the number of therapists who abused their positions and manipulated their clients to believe what was not true, thus a ruling by the court in  1995 that stated:

In 1995, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled in Franklin v. Duncan and Franklin v. Fox, Murray et al., (312 F3d. 423, see also 884 FSupp 1435, N.D. Calif.)^[66] that repressed memory is not admissible as evidence in a legal action because of its unreliability, inconsistency, unscientific nature, tendency to be therapeutically induced evidence, and subject to influence by hearsay and suggestibility. The court overturned the conviction of a man accused of murdering a nine-year-old girl purely based upon the evidence of a 21-year-old repressed memory by a lone witness, who also held a complex personal grudge against the defendant.^[15][67][68]

For our purposes, we focus on the highlighted portion of the above quote. Despite what we may wish to believe about ourselves, we are all subject to hearsay, suggestibility and  manipulation. Many scientific studies have proved our suggestibility, but the most obvious proof of the fact is the existence of commercials.  Were we not easily manipulated there would be no commercials and car salesmen, stock brokers, madison avenue, wall street and most politicians would be out of business.  Sales of most products and ideas are dependent on what we may wish to believe. Whether it be true or not.  Who today will cop to the, "I bought a pet rock?"


The trick is fairly simple of course which is why it is so effective. Take a piece of the truth or a fear and then use it build on what you know at least some want to or are going to believe.  Then watch it spread. Thanks to the internet you end up with much of this garbage in your mail box under the guise of "Forwards".

And here is the insanity and the strength of our desire to believe what we want to believe whether it is true or not.  We have been sent forwarded false-mails by people we know who made the mistake of not blind forwarding.  Some even included, this has been validated as true by "Snopes"!  But has it? Did you check?  We have and when we find the forward to be wrong we hit respond to all and send the correction.  Now one might think that we would receive a note from the sender thinking me for calling attention to their falling victim to what we all fall victim to from time to time. No. Human psychology being what it is they immediately learn to blind forward and continue to send out the same garbage. One individual did respond with, "oh well, it's close enough to the truth???" No it wasn't, it was just a validation of what the person chose to perceive as truth. True or not!

A most recent and excellent example is this email we received today:

Subject: NO BIBLES IN HOSPITAL FOR OUR WOUNDED SOLDIERS!

Obama must really want to be a one term president! The soldiers who wake up inWalter Reed Medical Center are in Maryland , not communist China . But,under the Navy's new rules, they may not know the difference!After months of peeling away the military's core values, Obama's army is on the move. And this time, it has a high-value target: the Bible.In a memo obtained by FRC, Navy officials have announced that "no religious items (including Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit." The new orders are buried in a four-page document about patient care, which an Army officer forwarded to us in disbelief!Effective immediately, families, friends, and even pastors will have to check their beliefs at the door to visit one of the largest military hospitals in the United States Last night, after we circulated the memo to leaders on the Hill, an outraged Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) took to the House floor and blasted the policy!"Mr. Speaker, these military men and women who are recovering at Walter Reed and Bethesda have given their all for America ! They've defended and taken an oath to the Constitution, and here they are. The people who come to visit them can't bring a religious artifact? They can't bring a Bible? ... A priest can't walk in with the Eucharist and offer communion to a patient who might be on their deathbed because it's prohibited in this memo from the Department of the Navy?"This is Obama's military, where homosexuality is celebrated and Christianity is censored; where witches are financed and crosses are scorned; where bestiality is embraced and Bibles are banned; where same-sex "weddings" are encouraged but international charity is not! After three years of ideological warfare, the Obama administration's intent is clear: to disarm the military of its biggest weapon…..FAITH!Regardless of Obama's agenda, there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution that empowers the government to stop family members from giving Bibles or crosses to their loved ones! And from a PR standpoint, I'm not sure the best way to boost approval ratings is by denying comfort to wounded warriors!Unfortunately for our troops, who have endured so much turmoil under the Obama administration, this is another blow!Hopefully, with the help of Congressman King and others, it's only a temporary one.Even liberal Snopes says it’s true:http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/walterreed.aspPLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

The first thing to note is that there are two TRUE statements in this email. Yes, Walter Reed hospital did issue an ill advised wording of a Bible policy and yes, Representative King did use the opportunity to posture in front of congress. And in our eyes such a policy would prove to be unconstitutional were it still in force. However it is not. So todays mailing is a bit late.

What makes this a great example is how it uses two pieces of the truth to make statements that are totally false. And if you do not read the snopes article or google Rep Kings statements on the hill then you are led to believe something very different from the real truth.  The first 4 sentences of the email hits three emotion raising topics. Obama, Veterans and The Bible. So right away this individual has caught the attention of people w/ strong emotions. Most especially when it uses the inflammatory phrasing "high-value target: the Bible."  right at the beginning.  What Christians interest would not be piqued? And that is exactly what the post is designed to do!

Now even without reading the snopes article you anyone can see the bias in this mailing. However this mailing wasn't designed to change the mind of anyone. It's danger is in how it is designed to re-enforce lies and misbeliefs some already have. Lets look at some of what is not true that most "fair and balanced" americans should have seen right of the bat.

The post refers to " Military Hospitals."  The policy was written by one administrator at one hospital, Walter Reed. The reason it was written was to protect patients who were being hassled. But one has to read the snopes article to see that.

It is not "Obamas military". He is Commander in chief. It is our military.

We can use all sorts of inflammatory words to address the religious and sexual preference arguments that are occurring almost daily.  However we are not aware of any credible resource that the military or the federal government for that matter, "Finances witches, scorns crosses, or embraces bestiality and bans bibles (for personal use)."  There is a constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. This guarantee was included by our forefathers to insure religious liberty, not to censure it.  The purpose of separation of church and state was so that government could not control religion and no one religion could control the government. 
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_the_constitution_mandate_the_separation_of_church_and_state#ixzz259AqDD9m
The post say's the "military", "encourages same-sex weddings and discourages international charity"? Have we forgotten already the militaries charitable role in the Haitian disaster???
Has received an unsolicited e-mail from the military advocating you change your sexual preference and get married?

I personally am not aware of Obama administrations intent to disarm the military of faith. I feel quite certain that most generals are aware of the role of faith in warfare. Sun Tzu, an ancient general whose writings are required for many U.S. Military Generals and Intelligence officers states:

3
The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. #4
These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.

The post states: "Unfortunately for our troops, who have endured so much turmoil under the Obama administration, this is another blow!" How many people reading this post stopped to think about all the other administrations our troops have suffered under? 

Now our hope would be that "most" people who received this would automatically engage in "critical thinking", see the obvious and dismiss the email in it's entirety.  However the person that mailed it to us is a respected individual with a very large mailing list. Which means, what "we" should already know, this e-mail will be forwarded on and on and on.........

So many times in history fiction becomes fact and urban legends live on because they are believed. Like old wives tales, there may be a kernel of truth that makes the susceptible true believers and easy prey for the snake oil salesmen on Madison Avenue and Capital Hill. 
  
Now we did not write this post in defense of Obama. We do not embrace Obama, Romney, congress, the Supreme court or any other of the minions of the ruling class who have been purchased to facilitate the end of the American dream.   What I do embrace is truth. Because "ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" John 8:32.

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