| And make no mistake, politics have always been filled with bold-faced outright lies. But never in the history of the world have lies been so easily disproven. There is a big difference between trying to change someone's mind about something and standing up for the truth. I had this revealed to me today. I thought I would share this little story just to encourage people to be brave and speak the truth. My cousin is conservative. I love him and he loves me but politics is the area where we differ greatly. He thinks Glenn Beck is great and Jimmy Carter is evil. We don't talk about that stuff and I don't try to change his mind. Today he joined a facebook group called Stop Barack Obama (One Million Strong and Growing). What? I thought. There are more than a million people on facebook who hate Obama? I clicked on the link and read the emotional diatribe that made absolutely no sense at all. And then I noticed an interesting fact. This group has less than 200,000 members. Their entire premise is a lie! At this point I really pondered what to do. I knew I couldn't change his mind, but I also knew that he was spreading a lie and probably didn't even know it. Soooo, I very sweetly commented--I said I was curious about this group and that I discovered that they really don't have one million members. I also posted a link to a really cool facebook measurement site that allows you to look at the most popular groups and pages so people can never be fooled again. (And proud to say the Barack Obama group page has more than 7 million fans, 2nd only to Michael Jackson.) Interestingly enough, another person, one of his friends, responded and said thanks for the link and for pointing that out. Then his sister sent me a private email thanking me so much for standing up to the lies. She said that it encourages her to stand up for herself and the truth. And then my cousin who joined the group actually said thanks for pointing that out too because he always values the truth. Hmmm. I didn't change his mind, but at least the truth came out and it did have an affect upon others. I'm not so naive as to think that things like this always work out for the best but it was a good lesson in strategy. Don't focus on changing minds. Focus on the truth. |
