Most people are neither intrinsically good or intrinsically bad.

[cali]

They're just goddamn persuadable. And politicians and freaks like Glenn Beck know it.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. + 1

[patrice]

2. We need our own "Glenn Beck".

:hide:

[sam sarrha]

3. there is just something about being a sociopath that isn't compatible with being a Democrat

[pipi_k]

4. I had a pretty positive experience yesterday with a couple of friends who

are the typical religious right, Fox "news"-watching sort.

They are older and have just acquired a computer. They brought their laptop over yesterday so we could teach them the rudiments of emailing.

During the visit we talked about lots of things, including some rather disturbing rumors involving "someone" who said that "someone else" who is a "friend of a doctor" said that whole villages in China or whatever are being wiped out by H1N1.

They probably got this from Fox "news", or maybe one of their religious tv channels, but whatever...it became the perfect moment for giving them a link to Snopes.com, where we told them to always look first for information if they ever hear rumors on anything. So we go to Snopes.com and there it is...confirmed by the CDC...no reports of "entire villages" being wiped out.

Our friends didn't resist, and actually looked like they were glad to find out the truth. The husband, at least, has this "thing" about not wanting to look like a fool.

So I feel a very small victory was scored, and I do hope that this couple keeps on checking out any rumors they hear before spreading them as "truth". Like you said...they're not intrinsically good or bad...just very naive and persuadable.