Facebook Follies

Facebook: Where anyone can graphically misrepresent facts to prove an ill-conceived point.

I’ve been having a field day on Facebook lately, collecting memes to disassemble.  I mean, with all the trauma and turmoil going on lately, anger and anxiety are peaking while careful reasoning is at a low.  (OK, that’s not just a recent thing, is it?)

Aside from the fact that the price quote is inflated, (by several thousand dollars), and it was a general stump speech rather than one focused on income inequality, has anyone  EVER, questioned the value of a male candidate’s suit?  This is just one more “standard” being applied to Clinton (or Obama) and to no one else.

I’ve seen a lot of snark aimed at Hillary regarding her (and her husband’s) wealth.  All I have to say is that coming from a party whose last two nominees have been billion-dollar trust fund babies; they are the living embodiment of the pot calling the kettle black.

This is another trick of dishonest timing.  The shooter’s quote was during the event itself.  The Attorney General’s quote was from the immediate aftermath, before investigations and before anyone had a concrete timeline of events.

See, it’s a distinct possibility that the shooter was lying or misdirecting authorities with that and other statements.  His presence on nine or ten other nights there at the club, as well as statements from those who claimed to know him, might lead one to believe that he was gay himself and acting out in a fit of denial.  Coming from a culture that reviles homosexuality even more than ours might make a guy like that prone to overcompensating in an effort to find redemption.

So before jumping to the conclusion that the religious right was dying to hear, the AG admitted that the investigation was ongoing… like it should be, regardless of how badly the 24-hour news cycle wished otherwise.  We’re Americans… we prefer our news wrong but now, rather than correct and later.

This one is just a mishmash of nonsense. 

Muslims maintain those rigid societal standards because they run theocracies.  That’s their religion and the religion runs the state.  There’s your first paragraph.

Muslims may think they should be “allowed to tell us we should change our laws and customs” because that’s human nature, it’s protected by the First Amendment, and it’s the exact same thing we think about them.  That’s a far reach to actually accommodating them, which I’ve never heard from anyone, ever.  Show me one Democrat who says we should change our laws and customs to accommodate Muslims?

I expect the response might be regarding immigration and resettlement of Syrian refugees, but that’s really an "apples to oranges" comparison.  That’s a matter of immigration law and not banning pork chops.

On the contrary, starting with “Church” is the end of a nation.

For a country that’s so afraid of theocracies, we sure sound like a nation that wishes to become one.

Moving on...

Personally, I wouldn’t share this because I would be too embarrassed to post a lily-white, blue-eyed Jesus wearing a Jedi robe.  Are you sure that isn’t Ewan MacGregor?

It’s funny how some people want to take the Bible so literally, but then do a complete make-over on the star of the New Testament.  Obviously, He would be a proponent of concealed carry, too.

Another jewel from the tiny-brained.

To “clean up one’s community and get rid of the criminal element” would take millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure development, as well as a serious commitment to education.  People have been trying to do just this for years.

On the other hand, getting a bunch of people together to march in the street to protest their loved ones being killed by police can be done in a heartbeat.  You don’t even have to leave your house.

To compare the two in terms of simplicity is asinine.

I’m not sure if this is meant to ask why the story isn’t getting enough attention, or to commend white people for not rioting.  Either way, there is an obvious (and non-racist) explanation.

This is a case where the details are not fully known.  The cops say it was a classic “suicide by cop,” wherein the driver refused to show his hands while continuing to approach the officer, despite repeated warnings.  The family says that’s not the kind of thing he’d ever do.  It’s hard to generate a protest when no one knows what’s going on (unless this kind of thing happens every day). 

People get shot by the police all the time.  Most deserve it.  It just so happens that the ones who don’t are most often black.

Simply put, for a white guy who is not posing a legitimate threat, getting shot by the cops, is a rarity. 

In raw numbers, more white are people shot by cops than black people.  However, and this is statistically important, white people make up 62% or our population; black people make up 13%.  Yet black Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be shot by a cop.

This is the linchpin of where the All Lives Matter movement falls apart.  All lives aren’t under siege; black ones are.  When such a time comes that 62% of people shot by cops are white and 13% of them are black, then we can sing Kumbaya about all lives mattering.  Until then, it’s a stacked deck.

On a semi-related topic, I was at the Orioles game last Friday night at the same time there was a planned demonstration.  I got a bit of a jolt when I looked up and saw a plume of smoke with a helicopter circling the area.

Last April, fans at the game got “locked in” when the protests broke out in violence.  My brother and his family were at that game; I thought this was going to be my turn.  But it turned out to be nothing but an apartment fire about 6 blocks north.

Facebook wasn’t ALL doomsday and grade school-level thinking last week… This cracked me right the hell up.

“Nature’s toothbrush for your colon!”

All I can say is the look on the guy’s face is really something.  I’m dying to know if that was a real ad from yesteryear.  It looks like something The Onion might do.  Either way, I’ll have to make sure I always get the celery with my hot wings.

But speaking of colon health, I I noticed something during my daily walk to the office.

And that's all I have to say about that.