Faye Bittker wrote an interesting take on the nefarious world of bloggers and fact (The Readers Speak, April 8 2011). At some point, people began assuming that what they read online was the truth and nothing but. Big mistake.
Google any subject and somewhere along thousands of entries you encounter strange facts. For example, Holocaust and Holocaust denied. Or, Jews and anti-Semites. You can see it all. Fair game but not factual game.
Say a student is assigned a paper on Auschwitz. The student will find much material online. What if his mind is a vulnerable sponge? According to so and so, the Holocaust never happened. Look, its right here on the Internet! Footnote 57!
Journalists commit to reporting facts. Many bloggers and extremists do not. So please, check your facts, just in case Rover did do it.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
