Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

I’ve been on Facebook for a number of years.

I’ve remained engaged because I get a kick out of some of the clever and cute things others post.

I always envisioned it as a sort of “community bulletin board were you could post this, that or the other.

I never thought of it as a location to air deep political or social issues.

But it’s obvious to me that many see Facebook as a valuable forum to express opinions and attempt to change things.

Nothing wrong with that, I guess.

But.

In my opinion, that’s where Facebook ceases to be a valuable entity.

Being an “old school journalist”, I’m used to handling news stories and facts differently.

If someone told you or you heard a news nugget, you needed another viable, credible source to confirm what you heard before you repeated it.

Or, you “sat” on the story until you could secure that supporting information.

Many were the times when I was asked by a “news source” if we could be “off the record”.

I would agree to that as long as somebody else violated that provision and then I would fire away.

Often times, though, something I was told “off the record” could be verified by another source which would confirm what I heard “off the record” and then I had a story ready to release.

There were times an “off the record” source would be quoted somewhere else and I would remember that, in case my search for facts crossed paths with that person again.

It’s hard to be trusted when that happens.

The quest to be “first” with the story is intense in the media but when you sacrifice “first” for “verified”, you navigate a dangerous road.

You become nothing better than a rumor mill.

Today’s electronic media has blurred all that.

Phone users with no concept of journalistic integrity will splash something on-line.

Where the problem occurs is when readers consume those words and rather than confirm what they read as factual, simply spread it on-line.

It becomes a gossip “brush fire” with almost as little benefit as an actual conflagration.

One of the biggest problems America has today is the fact that so many of us don’t take sufficient time to checkout stories and information.

If we can’t get it in a 20 second sound bite, we don’t have the time for it.

Politicians have picked up on this and when many of the matters they need to address should be deeper that 20 seconds, few will listen.

There’s an “anonymity” of sorts with Facebook postings that allows anyone to post what they want, whether it’s factual or not.

“Spray it” and some of it might stick.

Sort of like crop-dusting in a windstorm.

As our nation celebrates 250 years in 2026, I have viewed a number of documentaries and read numerous books about historical times and individuals and have learned things that made me say, “Geez! I didn’t realize that!”

Knowing that these documentaries can have a definite political tilt, I look for ones that involve those who walk on “one side of the street or the other”.

It affords me a more balanced input of information.

But it does take time.

And at this point of time in my life, I feel I can afford to spend it.

Presently, my usual “electronic media” forays are in search of information about my favorite sports teams, the weather and playing a game or two.

(I actually outlived “Word Cookies” on line!)

I also have a thing for Boxers, not Mike Tyson mind you but those four-legged, drooling and excitable “lap dogs”.

Certain sports teams get my eye as well.

And, that’s about it.

Some of these “community crusaders” under the guise of knowing the REAL “story behind the story” make posts that causer me to shake my head or chuckle.

But I often have a chill go down my spine when I remember that a lot of people take that drivel as gospel.

They’re the ones who delight at tossing rocks at the “establishment” but I remind you that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

I was told years ago that when you flip someone “the bird”, notice that you have at least 3 fingers pointing back at you.

Facebook, I’ll keep you around as long as I can see funny stuff or cute dogs.

But if and when that goes away, so will I.

You’re not a news source.