Obama, Jesus Christ and The Black Panthers

One popular source of "news" these days is the internet forum comment space. Recently, an intrepid "reporter" or 7 posted information about Barack Obama linking to The New Black Panther Party on his official website, then taking it down. Some have reported that the campaign has quietly put the link back up!

I decided to have an open mind, and check this one out. I clicked the link, and sure enough, a page featuring The New Black Panther Party magically appeared! Did those sneaks over at Obama Black Menace Headquarters pull a fast one?

I decided to see what other "extremists", as our intrepid truth-spreaders would say, the Obama campaign is snuggling in the bosom of its website. I clicked another link, and found an endorsement by one Jesus H. Christ. Huh? Is this possible? Our Lord and Savior in league with the minions of "Hope-monger" Barack Obama and the Black Panthers?

My head spinning, reality all nonsense, I called the Obama campaign for an explanation.

An Obama campaign spokesman explained that the page in question was actually a user-created profile on an innovative campaign forum called "MyBarackObama.com," modeled after internet communities like myspace and Facebook, and that anyone could sign up for one. He mentioned that Fox News had reported the story, but then took it off of their website. He assured me that the New Black Panther Party had never appeared anywhere else on the campaign's website, and that they had taken the group's blog down once they were made aware of it.

I checked, and sure enough, Google returned a link to a Fox News story about the "Official Webpage Endorsement," the only "legitimate" news outlet that came up. And sure enough, when you click the link, oops! Not there! No retraction, either, mind you.

Wait, does this mean that Jesus was able to sign up for free, too? Was it possible that this profile didn't even belong to the real Jesus?

I've done several stories recently debunking various false or misleading smears, for both Democratic candidates, mainly in an effort to illustrate what you, the reader, need to look out for. Each one has employed different techniques, and different combinations thereof. Tracking down every one of them is impossible, since you really can't prove a negative.

This smear relies on a false link between Barack Obama and the New Black Panther Party, and the misleading conflation of the Obama campaign's official website and the user-controlled community MyBarackObama.

This is why I say again, there is a reason for legitimate news outlets to exist. The standard of proof you ought to apply is that if the writer can't verify everything he is saying, you must presume that the entire thing is false. It is up to the writer to make the case. Legitimate journalists have reputations to protect, editors to answer to.

Internet spammers answer only to the conditions in their Mom's basement, and to the 5th level Ogre they're trying to defeat on World of Warcraft during their downtime.

Hopefully, this lays to rest any fears you might have had that Barack Obama was in league with the NBBP, the merits of whom are not being debated here. It is my further hope that you will all think critically before forwarding, cutting, pasting, or otherwise distributing such material. It's what Jesus would do.