Proofreaders? Fact-checkers? Who the hell needs ‘em? We got well-meaning MEMES

You wonder if a meme attributed to "MOHAMMED" ALI just MIGHT not be accurate. Is his name spelled right? No. Does it sound like him? No.

Quite often, as people "share" these bits of wisdom and rules to live by, I take the time to point out, "HE NEVER SAID THAT." The response is usually a shrug: "So? Who cares who said it?" It's the thought that counts.

No wonder nobody makes a living as a proofreader or a fact-checker anymore.

George Carlin had a page on his website where he debunked quotes attributed to him. He had a sense of pride about his work. He did not want to take credit for what he never said. Is that so hard to understand? How about the concept of "GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE?"

So who actually said something about giving service to others as part of your obligation in life? We can go back to the "Golden Rule" or Confucious? It's hardly an original thought created in the 20th Century. Let's check the world of MEMES...

Funny thing: NONE of these quotes seems to be in a book ANY of them wrote. NONE seem to be backed up by a film clip where they actually say it. NONE appear with proper attribution based on a speech, a pamphlet or a newspaper interview.

In fact, if you check bio sources for some of these people, including the more obscure religious minister N. Eldon Tanner or 80 year-old Edelman (who founded the Children’s Defense Fund and is the only one of the four still alive) NONE are credited in any official bio as having created the quote. You'd think someone chronicling the career of N. Eldon Tanner would be happy to say, "His lasting achievement is a quote that is used as a MEME all over social media, copied, re-copied, shared, and sometimes falsely attributed to Muhammad Ali..." No.

It's an irony that the INTERNET is supposed to make research easier. It's supposed to allow for scholars to correct mistakes, or Snopes a rumor or somehow get at THE TRUTH.

Oh, but why should we care about the truth? "It's the thought that counts." No matter who said it, the best service you can do for others is to pester them with naggy sanctimonious memes. Feel free to pass one of these along. OR...attribute the quote to Dickens, Dickinson, Shakespeare, Bacon, Charles Schulz or Soupy Sales. Or anyone else. Add a photo, and send it off as a MEME. You'll get a few LIKES and people re-Tweeting and "sharing." Hey..."Pay it forward." "It is what it is." "Know wuttum sayin'?" (Gee, who first came up with THOSE three quotes??? Don't bother researching. Make something up.)