Donkey Dust Detectives

   An important function of academics and journalists is to determine when and how a politician or corporate executive is metaphorically Blowing Smoke (note the initial capital letters) at the general public.
   As members in good standing of the 3-D Squad, these academics and journalists not only report what is said, but gather background and factual information that shows whether the public figure really knows what he or she is talking about, and whether he or she is speaking truthfully.
   It's possible, of course, that some claimants to leadership genuinely believe what they say, and have convinced themselves that they alone have the one Great Truth that will save society from itself.
   It's also possible that these same claimants are misinformed, delusional, incompetent, power hungry, or just plain wrong.
   It then is the duty of the Donkey Dust Detectives on the 3-D Squad to point out the inconsistencies and errors -- to put it gently -- in what the claimants to public leadership say and do. Some in the media call their researchers "fact checkers." At another level, the fact checkers are Donkey Dust Detectives, and have no agenda other than to note the reliability and truthfulness of what is being said and done.

   Some claimants to public notice are fond of taking one small detail of a larger issue, emphasizing that one detail and ignoring other points that fill out the concept and provide context.
   Is this lying? Sometimes.
   Is it misleading? Often.
   Is it a tactical attempt to undermine the opposition? Almost always.

   One example would be the campaign by the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to criticize the then-Sen. John Kerry during a presidential campaign. Many, if not most, of the "witnesses" in that that campaign were nowhere near Kerry and his activities in Vietnam.

   Another would be the so-called Birthers, who propound the citizenship issue in their insistence that Barack Obama is not eligible to be President because 1/ his father was from Kenya, 2/ he was not born in the U.S., and 3/ his Hawaii birth certificate is likely a forgery. Ignored in all this is the fact that Obama's mother was from Kansas, so no matter where Barack was born, he is a U.S. citizen.

   Do these strategies show incompetence? Perhaps. In any case, it is the responsibility of the 3-D Squad of detectives to get past those who Blow Smoke to cloud the issues, and expose the donkey dust beneath.