I don’t usually get pejorative whispers from The Grasshopper, but yesterday was an exception. Here’s what popped in:

“If you choose to remain ignorant, you’ll stay stupid.”

Years ago, I remember hearing this:

People use statistics as a drunk uses a lamppost: for support rather than illumination.

There’s a lot of choosing to not pursue the facts going on. That’s just pure lazy.

How many of your Facebook friends or Twitter people have reposted something on their feed that dovetailed nicely into their point of view, but were empty calories devoid of facts?

If you only get your information from one source, you’ll have a one-track mind, soon to go off the rails because you choose not to check the facts.

When you pass on something “spectacular” without checking, you’re guilty of what I learned from my 6th Grade Nun. She said, “If you spread rumors, it’s like opening up a feather pillow in a windstorm. When you find out they’re not true, you’ll hardly get any of the feathers back.”

And let me just offer my personal opinion: If you pass on something “major” without checking, you’re plain stupid.

Have all the opinions you want and share them with whomever you choose. But when you label your opinion as fact, that’s ignorance of the facts.

My request is to look past the headline and listen past the sound bite before you pass on false feathers that’ll take flight.

All the best,

John

P.S. I saw this Tweet from Neil deGrasse Tyson after I wrote this blog post. He wrote, “A great challenge in life: Knowing enough to think you are right, but not knowing enough to know you are wrong.”