Where do you go when you wanna know the truth? Snopes.
At least, that’s the word on the street. Or it was.
But what’s happened to the formerly forensic site?
In December, The Daily Caller ran the story “Snopes, Fact-Checker for Facebook and Google, Botches Fact Check.”
In March, TDC published “Snopes Gets the Facts Wrong on Ocasio-Cortez Campaign Finance Scandals.”
Shortly after Valentine’s Day, Snopes fact-checked The Babylon Bee.
Oops.
And at the beginning of the year, they fact-checked…me.
Or, at least, my article.
Back in January, I wrote my biggest article ever: “Lesbian Couple Identifying As Straight Couple Prepares To Transition 5-Yr-Old Son Into A Daughter.”
That thing just wouldn’t stop. It popped up everywhere, from Reddit to AR15.com.
Just a few months ago, I mentioned the viral victory to a teenaged relative. They were stunned — “You wrote that??” They’d seen it somewhere, randomly online.
If you haven’t read it yet, please do. Snopes did. And in response, rather than addressing its reality, they took to the webisphere to teach America how to be.
What was their answer to the question, “Is a ‘Lesbian Couple’ Preparing to Transition Their Son Into a Daughter?”
Well, it was — basically — “Alex Parker is a JERK.”
Their subheading: “Words and context matter when it comes to discussing marginalized groups.”
Snopes began with a very short snippet from my article, followed by three sentences summing up the family about whom I wrote and the harassment they had faced.
Then the rest of their coverage went like this:
Nothing is technically inaccurate about the quoted portion of RedState’s story, but it is worded in a way that can be read as insensitive to the plights of transgender persons. As noted, the married couple consists of a transgender man and a woman, so stating they are a “lesbian” couple negates one partner’s identity as a transgender man.
According to guidance from the National Center for Transgender Equality, members of the media should refer to transgender people according to their gender identities: A transgender man is the term for a transgender person who currently identifies as a man, while the term transgender woman refers to a transgender person who currently identifies as a woman.
It went on to attack Trump, complete with POTUS tweets. Wait — WHAT?
Although the family in question resides in Scotland, the transgender community is frequently the target of election-time flame wars in the United States over which bathrooms they should be permitted to use, and the Trump administration has also instituted a series of actions aimed at whittling down transgender protections under the law. In a series of tweets posted on 26 January 2017, President Trump instituted a ban on transgender persons’ serving in the military:
After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
….victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
What the heck is happening??
The fact-check of a lesbian-transgender RedState article ended thusly:
The ban was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on 22 January 2019, in a decision that allowed the restriction to remain place while legal challenges to it worked their way through the court system. In a reversal of course from his predecessor, Barack Obama, the Trump administration has also sought to narrowly “define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with.”
Does that seem like the work of an objective fact-checking site?
Why must seemingly everything in the world turn political? What’s wrong with some things simply sticking to the facts? That’s what Snopes claims to do. Or so I thought.
Their homepage now advertises, “We bring you fact-checking and original, in-depth reporting.”
Sadly, they’ve become the Jim Acosta of fact-checking. And that “reporter” stinks (here, here, here, here, and here).
-ALEX
Relevant RedState links in this article: here.
See 3 more pieces from me:
Making Herstory: Medical Miracle Allows Lesbian Couple To Carry The Same Baby
Actor James ‘Capitalism Is A Cancer’ Cromwell Threatens ‘Blood In The Streets’ If The Dems Don’t Win
Find all my RedState work here.
And please follow Alex Parker on Twitter and Facebook.
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