Miss-Quotes

Political ads are creeping in to all kind of unsuspecting places. Both sides are doing it so there is lots of blame to spread around. On a social media site there have been what at first looks like quotes from President Abraham Lincoln. The wording however is very modern English and sounds like a certain political view.  

This is nothing new as people have put words in the mouths of long dead people who can not defend themselves for thousands of years. People write down things they wished the ancient hero had said and apply it as a quote. Then others copy and reuse the miss-quote until it seems real.

One very ancient miss-quote is people say that the bible says; “God helps those who help themselves.” That is no where to be found in the bible but a lot of people believe that it is because it has been miss-quoted so often. We want to believe these things so we accept them with out checking and pass them on as real.

In this political season with the country so divided and so far apart we need to be aware and do a lot of  fact checking. Before I use or repost anything I need to ask my self, “Is this real?”   It may very well be what I want to be real but if it is not real I should not pass it along.