I don't care who you are, or how smart you are. Someone, somewhere, has lied to you. We've all fallen prey to misinformation. Furthermore, we've all been guilty of spreading lies as a result, intentionally or not. Of course, I am not immune. Two quick personal examples: not long ago, I posted a link on Facebook to a fake website called www.obamaphone.net. Also, a while back I wrote an erroneous article for Examiner.com, repeating the urban legend that a Jewish rabbi in Israel had ordered a dog to be stoned to death. In both cases, a couple of my intrepid friends were kind enough to come to my rescue, pointing out what soon became obvious to me. I had fallen for a hoax. And in both instances, I probably should have known better. The "Obama" phone fake website  was sort of a dead giveaway because of the suffix. Official government websites end with ".gov" extensions. Years ago, I had learned that lesson the hard way. I once typed "whitehouse.com" instead of "whitehouse.gov" while at work and found myself staring at a hardcore porn website--I distinctly remember my ears burning with embarrassment, and how I couldn't close that browser window fast enough. Yet somehow, I forgot that lesson when I saw the fake "Obama phone" website, and took the bait hook, line, and sinker. My problem was gullibility--the fake site simply reinforced information I already accepted as true. Unfortunately, I am not alone. We all tend to give a lot more credence to information that reinforces our personal worldview than we give information that contradicts … [Read more...]