It's Late, But Not Too Late to Rant

[howeird]

One of Facebook's "features" is the ability to create, and make viral, petitions about the hot topic of your choice.

I have a minor objection to that, because Internet petitions don't do any good. They carry no weight with anyone or any organization which counts.

But my main rant is that too many of the petitions I have seen are based on things misinterpreted, misquoted or taken out of context, and are usually reporting the grievance 4th-hand. The person creating the petition never read the source material on which it is based.

Whenever I see a petition which looks like something I might want to support, I will follow the trail down to the source material and  read it all for myself. It's called due diligence. It's called basic research. It's something anyone with a high school education ought to do by instinct. Nine times out of ten, the source material does not justify the petition. If the misquote is flagrant enough, I'll post a comment to the petition's page with the correct quote. If the source material does justify the rant, I'll send email to the appropriate congresscritter, publisher, or whatever. I won't sign or "like" the petition because that's as useless as spitting into the wind.

Comments

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

The thing that galls me is that I'm not always sure how to interpret the like button. For example, someone posts an article that says Inept Politician is doing Thing That Causes Tooth Decay In Pigs. 52 people have clicked like. Do they like the article, the person who posted it, the inept politician, or pigs with rotten teeth?

[howeird]

It's supposed to mean that people like that an inept politician is doing Thing that causes tooth decay in pigs, but FB, unlike LJ, is not a hotbed for discerning intellectuals, so "all of the above" is more likely the reason it got 52 "likes". My rule of thumb is when there is something interesting posted for which the Like Button is inadequate or ambiguous, I'll leave a comment instead.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

I left out the people who might have clicked like because, well, they like pigs.

Me, I prefer wolverines. But do wolverines like tangerines, and do they wolf them down in tanning salons? And if tanning salons really work, why don't they get darker over a period of time?