{"id":934,"date":"2009-12-13T16:01:03","date_gmt":"2009-12-13T16:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2009\/12\/the-problem-with-snopes.html"},"modified":"2009-12-13T16:01:03","modified_gmt":"2009-12-13T16:01:03","slug":"the-problem-with-snopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/12\/the-problem-with-snopes.html","title":{"rendered":"The Problem with Snopes: A Liberal Conspiracy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My hardly computer literate mother sent me the following info which had been sent to her. I challenge alert readers to read this and check it out. See if you think this critique of Snopes is valid or not. I have my own suspicions since I have found that the site makes mistakes, but see what you think…..  <\/p>\n

Personally, I doubt it is a liberal conspiracy. What is plausible is that these folks don’t always have accurate info (and shouldn’t claim they do) and don’t always have the critical tools or inside info to get to the bottom of everything.  I do not endorse the conservative conspiracy theories of  Mr. McCaleb, but in regard to Snopes he seems to have a point.  BW3<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

For the
\npast few years<\/span><\/b>
\nwww.snopes.com<\/span><\/b><\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

has positioned
\nitself, or others have <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

labeled it as the
\n‘tell-all, final word’<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 on any comment,
\nclaim and e-mail.
           
\n   
          But for
\nseveral years,<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 people tried to find
\nout <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

who exactly was
\nbehind<\/span><\/b> snopes.com<\/b><\/a> ..<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 Only recently did
\nWikipedia<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 get to the bottom of
\nit –<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 kind of makes you
\nwonder<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 what they were
\nhiding. <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 Well, finally we
\nknow.<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 It is run by a
\nhusband and wife team – <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

that’s right, no big
\noffice of<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 investigators and
\nresearchers,<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 no team of lawyers.
\n<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It’s just a mom-and-pop
\noperation <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

that began as a
\nhobby.
 
          David and
\nBarbara Mikkelson in the<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 San Fernando Valley
\nof <\/span><\/b>California<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

started the web site about
\n13 years ago <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

– and they have no formal
\nbackground or experience in investigative
\nresearch.<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 After a few years it
\ngained popularity believing it to be unbiased and neutral,
\n<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

but over the past couple
\n of years<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 people started
\nasking questions<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 who was behind
\nit and <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

did they have a selfish
\nmotivation?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 The
\nreason
 for the questions – or skepticisms
\n–<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 is a result
\nof<\/span><\/b> snopes.com<\/b><\/a>
\nclaiming<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 to have the bottom
\nline facts <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

to certain questions or
\nissues, <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

when in fact, they have
\nbeen <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

proven wrong.
\n<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Also, there were
\ncriticisms that<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 the Mikkelsons were
\nnot really investigating and<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 getting to the
\n‘true’ bottom of various issues
 
    When
\nI saw that Snopes had<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 falsely claimed that
\nObama’s Birth Certificate had been properly
\nvalidated,<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 I  realized
\nsomething was wrong <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

with either their
\nresearch<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 and\/or their
\ncredibility. <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It seems something is
\n<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

seriously wrong with
\n both.
 
    Then a few months ago,
\n<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

when my State Farm agent
\nBud Gregg<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 in
\nMandeville  hoisted a political sign referencing
\nBarack Obama and <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

made a big splash across
\nthe Internet.<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Supposedly, the Mikkelsons
\nclaim to have researched this issue before posting their
\nfindings on<\/span><\/b> snopes.com<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In their statement they
\nclaimed<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 the corporate office
\nof State Farm pressured Gregg into taking down the sign,
\n<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

when in fact
\n,<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

nothing of the sort ever
\ntook place.
             
\n 
    I personally contacted David Mikkelson
\n(and he replied back to me) thinking that<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 he would want to get
\nto the bottom of this, and I gave him Bud Gregg’s contact phone
\nnumbers. Bud was going to give him phone numbers to the big
\nexec’s at State Farm in <\/span><\/b>Illinois<\/span>
\nwho would have been willing to speak with him about it. He never
\ncalled Bud.  <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In fact, I learned from
\nBud Gregg that<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 no one
\nfrom<\/span><\/b> snopes.com<\/b><\/a> ever contacted anyone
\nwith State Farm.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 Yet<\/span><\/b> snopes.com<\/b><\/a> issued a statement as the
\n‘final factual word’ on the issue<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 as if they did all
\ntheir homework and<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 got to the bottom of
\nthings.<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 Not!
 
 
\n  Then it has been learned the Mikkelsons are very
\nDemocrat and extremely liberal.<\/i><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

As we all now know from
\nthis presidential election, liberals have a purpose agenda
\n<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

to discredit anything that
\n<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

appears to be
\nconservative. <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

There has been much
\ncriticism lately <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

over the Internet with
\npeople pointing out <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

the Mikkelsons liberalism
\nrevealing<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 itself in their web
\nsite findings.
 
     Gee, what a
\nshock!
 
      So,  I say this
\nnow to everyone who goes to<\/span><\/b> www.snopes.com<\/b><\/a> to get
\nwhat <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

they think to be the
\nbottom line facts: <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Proceed with caution.
\n<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Take what it says at face
\nvalue<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 and nothing more.
\n<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Use it only to lead you to
\ntheir references where you can link to and <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

read the sources for
\nyourself.
 
     Plus, you can always
\nGoogle a subject<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 and do the research
\nyourself. <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It now seems apparent
\n<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

that’s all the Mikkelsons
\ndo. <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

After all, I can
\n personally vouch<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 from my own
\nexperience<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 for their ‘not’
\nfully looking into things.
 
   
\n<\/span><\/b>Gary<\/span>
\n  McCaleb
    <\/span>2255 Western Park Dr .
    <\/span>Dallas<\/span> ,
\n<\/span>TX<\/span>   <\/span>75211-7748<\/span><\/span>
 
  
<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My hardly computer literate mother sent me the following info which had been sent to her. I challenge alert readers to read this and check it out. See if you think this critique of Snopes is valid or not. I have my own suspicions since I have found that the site makes mistakes, but see…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Problem with Snopes: A Liberal Conspiracy? - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/12\/the-problem-with-snopes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Problem with Snopes: A Liberal Conspiracy? - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My hardly computer literate mother sent me the following info which had been sent to her. 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I have my own suspicions since I have found that the site makes mistakes, but see…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/12\/the-problem-with-snopes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-13T16:01:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Problem with Snopes: A Liberal Conspiracy? - The Bible and Culture","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/12\/the-problem-with-snopes.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Problem with Snopes: A Liberal Conspiracy? - The Bible and Culture","og_description":"My hardly computer literate mother sent me the following info which had been sent to her. 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A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}