I might be full of crap...but I might not.

Today's entry is inspired somewhat by my older brother (see yesterday's comments), and somewhat by my desire to continue my string from yesterday anyway. My younger brother once paid me one of the greatest compliments I have ever received. He said, paraphrasing, there are a lot of people who have acquired knowledge but no sense of what to do with it. There are some people with insight who have no knowledge base. There are very few who have both. You have both.

Needless to say, I was taken aback by his own perspicacity (chortle), for being able to recognize mine was his gift. Facetiousness aside, he makes a valid point. Without the analysis of all the facts I implored you to memorize yesterday. it's kind of like the difference between the Sphinx and a pile of rubble. In the latter, the materials are there, but there is no vision.

Many folks like to quote the profundities of great thinkers of centuries past. I refuse to do so to the point of being obstinate. It's not an arrogance in believing that they have nothing to tell me; they certainly do. It's more that I enjoy the ride of discovery for myself. I squeal with delight (yes, like a little girl) when I experience a revelation triggered by my introspection, or extrospection for that matter. It may have been something that Immanuel Kant discovered centuries ago, but I'm much more likely to treasure and remember the insight at my own hand.

This leads me to the area of my expertise--media communication. It is wonderful, awesome, exponentially progressive, and dangerous. Consider the following time-worn axioms. Which are true?

• You should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day.
• You musn't swim for at least an hour after eating.
• Toilets in the southern hemisphere swirl in the opposite direction.
• If you eat Pop Rocks while drinking Coke it will explode in your stomach.

If you said none, good for you. Imagine how quickly this misinformation could spread today. Most nutritionists I've read say drink when you're thirsty. We get water from virtually all foods we ingest. The second one I tested anecdotally. I ate a full meal and immediately swam for nearly two hours. I was fine. I will never forgive mom for all those wasted time-outs in my youth. The third is a bastardization of the Coriolis effect, which indicates that objects moving longitudinally will deviate in opposite directions according to hemisphere. Toilets flow according to the direction the manufacturer pointed the jets. The fourth one is just silly. But don't take my word for it. Do the research yourself. I might be full of crap.

If you decide to test my answers, let me point you to a starting place. It's called snopes.com. The site is specifically designed to debunk urban legends like the above. But don't take it at face value either. The feature I like best about the site is that they attribute sources, so you can continue the research yourself. Consulting multiple sources is the key to ascertaining the truth. Hey, my own axiom! Let me repeat. Consulting multiple sources is the key to ascertaining the truth.

Thanks to television, satellites and the Internet, we can acquire knowledge instantaneously. Consider what is happening in the Middle East and northern Africa right now. That is largely a result of social networking. That is the wonderful side of the media. The ugly side is that bogus information spreads just as rapidly. Did you believe Microsoft was going to send you a check if you forwarded an email to ten friends? Did you believe you had won the Nigerian lottery? Did you believe you could rescue a martyred diplomat and be given 14 million pounds for your Christian deed? And all you had to do was give them your account number?

These are extreme examples but unsuspecting dupes are falling for these and similar ploys every day. What's worse is the pundits (a misnomer if I ever heard one) are spewing forth garbage every minute under the guise of news. During a lecture to my media law class once, I told the students to consult multiple sources. A student regurgitated my message to me in an essay, proudly boasting that he consulted Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly every day. The sad truth is that he was being serious. Technically, he had me. Those were multiple sources. Politics aside, what is frightening to me is that he confused those sources with journalists. Believe it or not, true journalists aspire to accuracy, objectivity and truth every day. I know because I, along with a thousand ethical colleagues, train them every day.

The most dangerous words in the English language come from your friends on a regular basis. "I heard that..." Whatever follows is likely to be incorrect, yet you will relay it to a dozen or so friends because it came from your friend. In this respect, I am from Missouri, the Show Me State. I now find myself doubting virtually everything I hear second hand. Someone once told me that Food Network star Paula Deen was from Pennsylvania and her accent was made up. It took about two minutes of researching and corroborating to find that she is from Atlanta.

So far, these are innocuous examples, but consider how your sheepish decisions affect our nation and the world. In 2002, we believed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, because our government told us so. We started a war based on that assumption. Whether you believe the war is just is not the point. The point is legitimate journalists spread the misinformation like wildfire.

Read. Watch. Listen. Learn. Don't just have an opinion. Have an informed opinion. Don't repeat what the so-called pundits say and certainly don't repeat what your friends say without doing the research. Perhaps most important of all, don't listen to me either. I might be full of crap.