Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Truth or Warm Fuzzies?

A friend posted a meme on his Facebook wall the other day.  I'm not a great fan of memes, mostly because they are often distortions of the truth.  And the ones that tell me I need to say "Amen" or "Share if you agree" are the most unliked.

"Amen" is a sacred word in my vocabulary, usually concluding a prayer or vocalizing my agreement with theological truth.  So, I'm not one to throw them out when engaging in small talk.  The word simply means, "That's truth", or "I agree".

What I don't need to be agreeing with are distortions or half-truths.

Here's the meme.





It originated from some source called "God First Ministries".  To me it goes along with those memes that tell me "If this post gets 1,000 likes FB will pay for his surgery.".  Who believes this stuff?

I replied to my FB friend, "And you believe this is true because someone posted a meme?"  His response had me SMH (I have learned a few of these abbreviations).  And he's no kid.  We went to college together.  We were taught to value truth.  

But, he said, "Dosen't (sic) matter if true or not still don't have a problem posting Amen.Amen."

What?  Truth doesn't matter?  You're OK posting something that has a better than good chance of being false?  Truth is irrelevant as long as the sentiment gives me a warm feeling inside?

This is not to say that I have never fallen prey to a seemingly legitimate "news" flash, only to regret I didn't do my homework first before "liking" or "sharing".  I've had a few bites of crow pie.  And because of that I try to be more diligent.

I decided then that while keeping him as a "friend" I'll "unfollow" him.  SMH too often only gets me dizzy. 

Amen.