broadlybrazen:

An Idea: the next time somebody decides to write a poorly worded rant about Hillary Clinton, may I suggest checking resources like PolitiFact? Or like…any remotely objective and careful source?  There are numerous legitimate grounds to disagree with Hillary Clinton, but you should consider avoiding rampant misinformation and outright distortion of facts – particularly when you are accusing someone of being the Most Dishonest And Worst Ever!  

Incidentally: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are, by far, two of the most consistently truthful major figures profiled there. (I say “major figure” because most other people & groups have only a few statements on their scorecard, and it’s statistically meaningless.)  I’ve summarized PolitiFact’s assessment of Clinton & Sanders’ relative factual accuracy:

Bernie’s Truthiness (72%):

• 13% rated “True” (completely accurate, nothing significant missing)
  
• 39% rated “Mostly True” (accurate; needs clarification or additional information)
  
• 20% rated “Half True” (partially accurate; missing details and/or context)
  

Hillary’s Truthiness (73%):

• 23% rated “True” (completely accurate; nothing significant missing. Incidentally, this is by far the highest “True” score out of several major figures including Sanders, Obama, Biden, almost all of the Republicans, etc).
  
• 29% are rated “Mostly True” (accurate; needs clarification or additional information) 
  
• 21% as “Half True” (partially accurate; missing details and/or context)
  

This is a pretty far cry from the notion that Hillary is ragingly dishonest, guys. There is a difference between disagreeing with her opinions (reasonable!), and denying that most of her claims are rooted in solid evidence (they clearly are).

Again, not suggesting that PF is the be-all end-all resource, but it’s a really good place to start! (They don’t assess opinions & fall into an ideological quagmire; they only assess significant political claims which can be conclusively verified.)

My point: there is a pretty stark difference between the actual reality (HRC operates reasonably transparently and truthfully, particularly in comparison to many politicians who are perceived as more truthful), and the endless barrage of overblown bullshit like “Hillary is one of the most dishonest/corrupt politicians,” “Hillary is just like Trump,” etc.  

The reason this is important? (1) She is a major party’s presidential nominee. For that alone, facts matter. (2) Especially if you don’t like her, you need to know her better. You will draw more sound conclusions & make a better risk assessment about Hillary & the outcome of her presidency if you actually know Hillary.

Some of you will like her better. Some of you will hate her more. Some of you won’t change your mind at all. The important thing, for me, is that your decisions and opinions should be informed by fact.

(via feminismandhappiness)

(via lostkidsofthe70s)