Social media strikes again

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones is now reaching out to have officials take a close look and see if crimes were committed during his race against Roy Moore saying information has surfaced that fellow Democrats used a social media 'experiment' to help him win his Senate campaign.

We applaud him because if those allegations are true, the so-called interference helped him. It's like a winning football coach complaining about the referees; they get more credibility than the losing coach who complains about officiating.

But we are back to what we've said before. We said it when Democrats cried foul that the Russians were behind a social media campaign to spread false accusations against Hillary Clinton. We said it then and we'll say it now: If you are banking your decision making process based on what you read on Facebook and other social media sites, you are a fool.

“It had to be true, I read it on the Internet” is a major oxymoron if there has ever been one.

The story about Sen. Jones' request for somebody in the government to take a look at the situation had a great quote that sums up what we've always been saying about people blindly engulfing 'knowledge' off the Internet.

Jess Brown, a retired political science professor at Athens State University, said the accusations made by Sen. Jones should serve as a warning for voters. Then he said what we've been saying all along:

“It's irresponsible, as a citizen in the United States right now, to rely upon Facebook and Twitter. There is no accountability on the spending of the money or the accuracy of the source of information. It's just a daydream for political consultants who have no moral compass and it's an absolute nightmare for people who are interested in an electoral process that works.”

Amen brother.