Myth-busting.
Tracking memes.
Going beyond “someone’s wrong on the Internet”.
Here are things to think about before retweeting (used as a proxy for “sharing” on any digital channel) something that you might need to “re-call” later:
- If a tweet sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This theme is very common in email hoaxes and legends.
- If a tweet sounds too bad to be true, it probably is. Think “so-and-so just died!”
- If the tweet contains a call to action but no link for verification, do not retweet without verifying!
- If the tweet is full of ALL CAPITALS and !!!! you probably want to run away.
- If the tweet is time-sensitive (related to a natural disaster or a major news story) then put on your virtual hoax-meter.
This collection of links reflects my attempts to course-correct digital conversation.
Some of these efforts take the form of media criticism. Others are more traditional attempts to throw an obstacle in the path of forwarded email, Facebook shares and Twitter retweets.
I’ve tried to filter for analyses based on facts rather than opinion. Some of the links @ TMV (TheModerateVoice) may also appear here on WiredPen (WP).
This Is B.S.
Posts on my Facebook page (new venue).
- 27 August 2014 – “Drunk cop” video
- 25 August 2014 – Michael Brown’s funeral v General Harold Greene’s funeral
Other myth/meme busting efforts (and fact-checks)
2016
- 9 August 2016 – Deconstructing a meme: #NationalBookLoversDay
- 14 February 2016 – How common is a Supreme Court vacancy during a Presidential election?
- 12 February 2016 – That hot 60-second “Bernie Sanders ad” isn’t a campaign ad
2015
- 17 February 2015: Quote busting: not Darwin
- 30 January 2015: Will Rogers on “trickle up” economics
2014
- 15 December 2014 – Myth-busting: a tale of two shooters
- 8 October 2014 – Memebusting: about that eyewitness report of a miracle performed by Jesus
- 21 March 2014 – Chart junk at its finest: Fox on ACA @ TMV
- 12 January 2014 – “Trust me” journalism, TIME style @ TMV
- 10 January 2014 – Beware of “record” number claims in a headline @ TMV
2013
- 16 July 2013 – Facebook & Sunday’s “Unfriending”? It’s Made Up News @ TMV
- 11 June 2013 – Those Pew/WaPo Headlines? Black and White In A Very Gray World @ TMV
- 11 May 2013 – Tracking a meme: suspended coffee @ Storify
- 11 May 2013 – Tracking a meme: suspended coffee @ WP
- 8 February 2013 – Meme Busting: Does Obamacare Mandate Micro Chip Implants? @ TMV
- 25 January 2013 – Is It About To Be Illegal To Unlock Your Cellphone? @ TMV
- 20 January 2013 – Meme-Busting: What, Exactly, Did Obama Do This Week Regarding Gun Policy? @ TMV
- 12 January 2013 – Meme-Busting: Do 85% of the children who die from gun violence live in the US? @ TMV
2012
- 22 December 2012 – Rebutting NRO: Intellectual Dishonesty Taken To A New Level @ TMV
- 17 December 2012 – Poke A Hole In A Meme: Presidential Dog Walker @ TMV
- 15 December 2012 – Breaking News In Connecticut: Facts Victim Of Media Rush To Be First @ TMV
- 14 November 2012 – Secession Craziness (Really) @ TMV
- 7 October 2012 – How to lie with statistics: fact-checking the soundbites @ Storify
- 7 October 2012 – How to lie with statistics: fact-checking the soundbites @ TMV
- 4 September 2012 – The debt story that the media seem to willfully ignore @ TMV
- 26 April 2012 – Is The Obama Administration Intervening In Farm Chores? @ TMV
- 25 March 2012 – Meme-Busting: No Arrest In Either Trayvon Martin Or Kim Kardashian Cases @ TMV
- 8 March 2012 – Time To Stop The #StopKony Bandwagon @ TMV
- 10 February 2012 – Meme Chasing: Literacy In America @ TMV
- 1 February 2012 – Check Before You RT: Komen CEO Compensation Tweet Rings False @ TMV
2011
- 7 September 2011 – Andrea Mitchell Tells The World She Has Breast Cancer, Confuses Risk With Prevalence @ TMV
- 24 July 2011 – Meme Correction: Norwegians Can Be Incarcerated For More Than 21 Years For Murder @ TMV
- 13 June 2011 – Arguing With Heffernan: No, Weiner Is Not An “Advanced Twitter Player” @ TMV
- 9 June 2011 – NJ, Journalists and Sloppy Reporting @ TMV
- 3 June 2011 – Have Republicans Voted To “End Medicare”? @ TMV
- 18 May 2011 – What’s Wrong With This Picture? @ TMV
- 3 May 2011 – Chasing A Meme: The Twain Quote That Isn’t @ TMV
- 27 March 2011 – Food Fear Mongering In The WaPost : Food Dyes and Hyperactivity In Children @ TMV
- 2 March 2011 – Huckabee Off The Rails; A Chronology Of Obama’s Childhood @ TMV
- 26 January 2011 – E-Mail Rebuttal: Photos of a Mexican Drug Lord’s home after being raided @ WP
2010
- 5 November 2010 – Cooks Source Magazine Ignites Copyright Firestorm; Magazine Ceases Publishing @ Storify
- 8 October 2010 – Tracking A Meme: Mariah Carey Pix @ Storify
- 1 September 2010 – Fact Checking Glenn Beck @ TMV
- 26 August 2010 – A Case For Religious History Classes, Take 2 : Newt Gingrich On “The Mosque” @ TMV
- 17 August 2010 – Rebutting Sarah Palin: Some Facts Around The Trumped Up Mosque Controversy @ TMV
- 10 August 2010 – Thoughts On The Ted Stevens Story @ WP
- 9 August 2010 – A Case For Religious History Classes @ TMV
- 1 August 2010 – Quoted Out Of Context: NYT On ScienceBlogs Controversy @ TMV
- 28 June 2010 – Ethically Empty: Whitman Campaign Rips Off FAIL Blog UI @ TMV
- 16 June 2010 – Obama’s 90 Percent Clean Up Promise: That’s Not What He Said @ TMV
- 9 March 2010 – MythBusters: Subscriptions Don’t Cover Salaries @ WP
- 14 January 2010 – Tracking A Twitter Meme, Arguing For Digital Literacy @ TMV
- 13 January 2010 – Beware of Twitter Memes; How To Really Help Haiti @ WP
2009
- 30 April 2009 – Deconstructing Swine Flu Mania @ TMW
- 12 April 2009 – #AmazonFail : Why Did Amazon.com Delist Gay, Lesbian Books? @ WP
- 9 March 2009 – The Myth of Paid Content @ TMV
- 26 February 2009 – Who Invented the Automobile? @ TMV (first post, guest voice)