Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Abortion Wars and Believing Everything You Read on the Internet

A major oops from either Congressman John Fleming, R-Louisiana or one of his staffers.

His office posted major, breaking news last week on his Facebook page. The headline on an article he or his staff found and wanted to share with his constituents was this: "Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex."
Rep. John Fleming, R-Louisiana seems to take The Onion
very, very seriously.

Fleming is a solid opponent of abortion. And we all know it's a hot button issue. People on both sides of the argument have passionate attitudes toward abortion, that's for sure.

We're not going to get into who's right on the abortion debate here. I don't have the wisdom or the wherewithal to add anything to the topic.

But there's one tiny little problem with Fleming's news flash. The abortionplex article was from The Onion,  that satirical Web site that comes up with outlandish, false news stories as comedy.

Good lord, did anyone on Fleming's staff actually read the Onion article? Even the headline?  You'd unquestioningly believe an $8 billion, 900,000 square foot abortion complex was being built in Topeka? And the article says the place has a three story nightclub and a 10-screen multiplex theater to "make abortion more of a social event." That made sense to somebody?

Plus, the fake news was old. The abortionplex piece was published in May, 2011, but got new life on the Internet thanks to last week's controversy involving the Susan G. Komen Foundation's decision, and then the reversal of its decision, to fund  breast cancer treatment at Planned Parenthood.

Fleming's Facebook post has since been taken down, but still, I think it's time for whoever is responsible for Fleming's Facebook page that heed that advice to not do anything embarrasing on the site. You'd never know who will bite back.

No comments:

Post a Comment