Today’s post is a short rant. Whats really setting me off is fools that accept whatever they are told. The latest thing going around is the NRA small arms treaty. I’ve seen people all over Facebook and YouTube bitching about this. Even a few Youtubers that I respect put out videos on fighting this treaty to take our guns away. I’m not just going to shoot down this rumor but the whole mentality.
I started seeing this thing pop up on Facebook. When your friends with a lot of survivalist and gun enthusiasts something about guns being takes away spreads fast. So seeing all this ranting and raving I did what i always do. I Googled it. One of the very top results was from Snopes ,which is an internet urban legend/ rumor directory. Anytime I see Snopes in the top results I dismiss it right there. Snopes does indeed disprove this current rumor by the way.
The more important issue is people accepting whatever they see without even doing a two second Google search. Facebook is pretty rampant with this B.S. Just a few weeks ago I had a friend share an article stating that if you are being robbed at an ATM put your pin in reversed. It said that reversing your pin it would still give the cash but alert the police. This immediately hit me as sounding fishy. If this were true It would make sense for it to be common knowledge. Second not all numbers can even be reversed. What if your pin was 1111 or many other combination that don’t have a backwards version. A quick search of Snopes showed it to be false. This friend has a tendency of doing that often. People just “ASSUME” that everything must be true.
I promote a much more realist view. I assume everything I hear is bull shit unless I can find proof otherwise. If it can pass the Google and Snopes test I put an amount of credibility in it. So I urge you next time you hear something fact check it first before helping spread the misinformation.
I have to give some praise to the Skillsandgear crew for immediately doing just that and calling B.S on it. Have you had friends do this crap and believe everything? Do you do this? Let me know in the comments. Trust me I pass the Snopes Test
Unfortunately I know many people that do this… I’ve even had to un-like several pages on facebook claiming to be survivalist because of the BS. You would think that the survivalist mentality would come with a natural sense of mistrust, but instead everyone seems to jump on the rumor bandwagon, sensationalizing crap more than the big media outlets. The sheeple are coming en masse.
Unfortunately,in the past I have been guilty of this type of transgression and now try to keep my mouth shut till I`m pretty sure. Even then I may throw out a disclaimer if there is a chance the info is not correct. No good spreading false hoods around,to much drama already!
I agree with the premise that you shouldn’t believe everything you read, but what exactly do you disagree with about the ATT treaty? Are you arguing simply that nobody is going to come grab your guns, or are you just saying that some of what you read about it isn’t true. Either way you slice it, the ATT is bad news and the UN is a corrupt group that should hold no authority on our nation. Please expand on your thoughts… Thx
My point is that this rumor has been circulating for years. It will not give them the authority to take our guns. No I don’t suport it nor the UN. But the misunderstandings help no one. If every one got fully informed and told they’re reps that this bill is none of our concern let the countries involved take care of their own business we would be much better off than youtubers screaming they are coming to take our guns.
It is a slippery slope here. I am with the NRA position which is to threaten every lawmaker with an alternate career path if they even consider supporting this nonsense. I think the climate of both anti-2nd amendment in this country combined with what has actually been experienced in Great Britain and Australia in terms of gun registries, that we can’t afford to take this issue lightly. Having said that, the non-sense you speak of on YouTube and some other bloggers can easily push a wingnut to open up on some innocent crossing-lady thinking “this is it”, so your point to take this all with a level-head is well taken. Thanks for your site!