I got a funny petition today, from a friend, in my inbox. Funny, because it claimed that Obama was pushing to make it so that illegal immigrants could recieve Social Security benefits. At the same time as this was funny, to me, because my friend sent it to me so that I could laugh at it... it was sad, at the same time because the particular copy that I recvieved had been digitally signed by over nine hundred people. Over nine hundred people who actually believed this was true.

This reminds me of Prop 8 in California, which passed (partially) because a lot of people didn't bother to fact check. Many people didn't even know what they were voting for because the amendment was confusingly worded. Even worse, however, is the fact that many people knew they were voting to prevent equal marriage, but did it because they were afraid of made up concequences. For instance, the idea that their church would be forced to perform same-sex marriages; this claim, made by anti Prop-8 smear campaigns, was completley untrue... and yet people believed it, and voted with this imaginary concequence in mind, because they didn't bother to check up on the facts. If everying in California (and Maine, for that matter) had been honestly informed about what their vote would mean... I have a feeling the results may have been quite a bit different.

Back to the petition: the saddest thing about this is that this petition has been circulating since May 2006, with Bush listed as the instigator up until he left office. Conservatives and liberals alike have been ignorantly circulating these lies for three years now. Sure, many people probably read it, shook their heads, and moved on like I did... but at the same time we know at least 900 people, the people who signed the petition I recieved, believed this was true enough to attach their names to it.

This video, circa 2006, of another prank that has been going around for ages, illustrates pretty well what I'm trying to say. This petition was a joke... but why on earth would you sign your name to something (indicating that you believe in it) without understainding what that cause is?




It just makes no sense... which brings me, finally, to this last video that most of you have probably seen: Palin supporters explaining why they like Palin. (I'll give you a hint: none of them actually know how she stands on any of the major issues.)

This isn't unique to Sarah Palin though... I've spoken to plenty of voters, both college students and adults, who have voted for a candidate without having much (if any) knowledge about that candidate's position on some/any of the issues. It goes from people who vote for a candidate just because they're the Republican/Democrat candidate to people who vote based on what their parents/friends choose, to a friend who literally just flips a coin.

I'm not saying everyone has to be political experts... all I saying is a little research goes a long way so please, remember, to think before you support anything, because you never know when your voice will be the one that makes a difference!