I’ve heard, on occasion, how the media can slant things in order to garner support by the population, or certain sectors of it. I didn’t really give it a whole lot of thought, actually. Last night I was bored and I saw for myself just how some writers “cherry pick” to foster fear in certain groups of people.

Now, before I go on, let me just state for the record that I am not throwing anyone’s belief system under the bus; on the contrary. It just irritates me when someone actually writes something touted as news to freak people out. A little due diligence goes an awful long way is all I’m saying. The guy that wrote the piece I’m about to discuss is putting his beliefs out there, which is part of the joy of freedom of speech.

BUT…belief and fact oftentimes may NOT be the same thing, and I was under the impression that news is FACT, but that’s just me… (How many times have we heard about a murder, and we all believe the suspect is guilty, but then the case goes to trial and lo and behold, the facts prove the individual not guilty? I rest my case.)

That said, I submit:

Recently I have seen an instance or two of the following reference on my FB feed:

I could go on and on…

(Oh? I’m wondering if this would be the same chip my former in-laws were convinced would be implanted in us by the year 2000. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t have one of those, and it’s 15 years later. Just sayin.)

At any rate, my first thought was, “OMG! NBC is saying we are all going to be microchipped in a couple of years!” because that is kind of what the heading reads. Am I wrong?

The posters are shaking their heads in their comments. I’m not sure if it’s in fear, disgust or simply because this article is hysterical…and in the funny sense.

So because I was chillin’ in the tub looking for something to peruse, I meandered over to the linked web site to see what all this fuss is about.

The first thing I noticed was the picture of NBC’s anchor (Brian Williams, was it?) looking rather dated. (Go figure.)

I skimmed the article, which basically starts with the words: “NBC has recently predicted that in 2017,” (to which I have to wonder what the author’s idea of the word RECENTLY is…read on to see what I mean.) The long and the short of it is that all Americans will be implanted with a microchip that will be able to track our every move, as well as to enable the government to control the food and money of the implantees. Apparently, some humans are even being guinea pigs to a brain chip. Beam me up, Scotty! I’m afraid!

The author goes on to sound terribly knowledgeable by referencing Bills H.R. 4872 and H.R. 3962, as well as a document linked from the FDA website. Well, DAYUM, y’all! Gotta be true, right? It sounds tremendously knowledgeable, doesn’t it? Of course it does. If you’re like me, you haven’t thought about Civics class since high school and that’s been what? How many years ago?

Then I go on to play the video embedded in the article. Of course, there is no visible date reference, but the following words were used in the opening statement:

“Life in the US in ten year’s time…”

That was my second clue that this may be a little bit dated.

So I watched the video and there were all of 21 seconds out of 2 minutes devoted to “medical microchips.” Oh, and no, he didn’t “predict” that we’d all be sporting them by 2017. People, please.

Can we all say, “Fear mongering”? I knew we could.

I mentally called bullshit on the entire article, and then went and put my Google Queen crown on and searched the piece. Go figure. It aired on May 14, 2007 (http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/program.pl?ID=869806), which falls right in line with the opening statement made. (See my comment on the author’s idea of the word, “recently,” above…)

I used the search term: “Tom Costello NBC microchip report” and pulled up one or two more sites that have reported that NBC has predicted this. H’okay.

The first of the two BILLS he referred to in the article were H.R. 4872, from 2010 for the budget year. Yes, the BILL mentions microchips, but the actual ACT? Nope. I looked at the actual ACT, and couldn’t find anything pertaining to microchipping. Just to be on the safe side, I went to Snopes, because I know they have been pretty much spot-on for rumors versus reality. Check out this SNOPES piece.

The second was H.R. 3962, dated October 29, 2009. The website politifact.com states the following about H.R. 3962: “Here’s an odd postscript. As the final House version (H.R. 3962) approached a vote by the full chamber, the term “implantable” was removed from that section.” Hmmm…Surprise…

The FDA document he referenced was dated December 10, 2004 is also mentioned in the politifact.com link above.

I’m sorry…This guy is presenting what appears to be an Op-Ed piece as actual NEWS…you know…facts? But the reality of this type of thing is that it only scares people.

Yes, this is America and we have freedom of speech. I’m grateful for that. But when you take an Op-Ed-thing and pass it off as news with a misleading headline like this guy did? Dude…c’mon…What’re you trying to do?

Put a slant on stuff much?

Gah! Seriously…This insults our intelligence.

Until Next Time…