When the truth hurts

When the truth hurts, yer living wrong.

While a few people have tried to debate the merits of that statement and what truth actually is, I stand firm on that declaration.

If the truth hurts, then you are the one who needs to either adapt to the truth or get used to the pain. I'd rather be hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie. I also admit there are times when a lie is the better option.

No?

True story. Grandma was dying. She knew it. We knew it. The doctors knew it. They told everybody. Congestive heart failure. She also broke a leg. As she slowly eased into whatever comes next, she got black spots on her foot.

Necrosis. Precursor to gangrene and amputation.

Grandma asked Ma if Ma knew what it was. Ma lied. "I don't know." S'far as I know, the rest of us lied to her as well.

She died in peace and intact without the worry of losing her leg.

Lies were the right decision.

But for some folks, a lie and only a lie will do even in the face of evidence so solid SCIENCE! moves it out of the "theory" category and into the "This is so settled it can never be questioned ever" category.

Enter Snopes. Me? I happen to like Snopes a lot. It is a go-to resource for me. Snopes itself, not the forums hosted by the organization. The forums are nothing more than letters to the editor and replies with no effort to fact check so much of it.

I have friends on the far right and the far left who all decry Snopes as a slanted organization, full of opinion, deceit and lies.

SHOW ME

Really? Show me. Show me an example of bias on Snopes' part, the part the Snopes crew runs and not the forums. Show me opinion. Aaight, I give you that one. When Snopes hands down a ruling on the veracity of a claim, that is opinion.

Show me deceit on the part of the Snopes research staff.

Show me lies on the part of the Snopes research staff.

I ain't gonna wait 'cause you can't.

FIND THIS

What you can find is a one in a million error. This is seized upon by the far wingers as a reason the site can't be trusted. What they reject outright is how Snopes was informed of the error and then corrected it. Apparently, these people are so close to perfect they have never made a mistake.

Be my role model, wudja?

What you can find is Snopes offering an "undetermined" opinion because the research staff could not find enough CREDIBLE evidence to issue a definite opinion one way or another. This is damning, according to the far wingers, because evidence is out there. Yes, Virginia, it is. It's right there in the filing cabinet with the proof of a Flat Earth, Elvis is alive and faking the moon landing.

What you can find is Snopes research. They get as close to the original source as possible. They fact check. They present their findings. This infuriates the far wingers who scream "FAKE NEWS!" as if their clamor is sufficient to drown out the truth.

Unfortunately, their yelling is doing exactly that.

AND IT MATTERS HOW

Another complaint against Snopes is how the two founders split and the resulting lawsuits, claims, counterclaims and insults hurled at each other with more venom than a box jellyfish. The far wingers say Snopes can't be trusted because of all that tar and feathering and mudslinging.

How, exactly, does this matter? The far wingers are quick to support people who commit acts more incredulous and outrageous than the former married partnership that created Snopes.

If such antics matter where Snopes is concerned, it should matter across the board.

Except it doesn't. To paraphrase Henry Kissinger, "These are our miscreants. Those are their miscreants."

THE TRUTH

When Snopes presents the truth, not as the site wants it to be or as some of the readers want it to be, then it is laid bare for those willing to embrace truth.

I ain't gonna cut people out because they pooh-pooh Snopes. I certainly am going to give them the respect they deserve for ignoring the truth.

Come to the truth side. We have less pain.