Media Literacy

So, I'm on the ever-continual time waster, Facebook, the other day and I get totally deflated. One of my former students (just from last semester) actually posted some stupid story about Obama cancelling the National Day of Prayer. (T, if you are reading this, I'm sorry, but I have to talk about it).

Why does this deflate me? It actually has nothing to do with my political opinions. It is because we have a whole section in my class devoted to media literacy. I spend an entire class time, plus some outside work, to get my students to understand that it is important, no...critical to analyze what the media says. Of course, this wasn't officially the media, but we talk about emails and FB status quotes as well. NEVER TAKE THINGS AT FACE VALUE! The bad part is that she was one of my best students. If she didn't take it in, did anyone?

Oh well. I harassed her a little on FB, then sent an email to some friends and family about why it is important to check the facts before you start spouting them like it is absolute truth. There are several "fact checking" sites out there, but the one I have found most credible to this point is www.snopes.com. Many of you are familiar with this, I'm sure.

So, to help dispel the myths about the National Day of Prayer, please review their article here. There is also a great article that dispels an email that went out about Ft. Hood here. Really read to the end of both articles. They are interesting.

I encourage you to do your fact checking before you speak. As I frequently say...agree or disagree, but don't play the "game" and get caught up in the poop that is thrown on both sides of the political arena. We expect our politicians to behave and share the truth, but we don't do it ourselves. Let's get our act together!