My tolerance for disinformation is at zero

It was an unpleasant reminder of life under the previous administration and I refused to be a part of it.

I unfriended two people on social media today for circulating rumors about the current president and vice president. I’ll do it again and I’ll keep doing it until I have no friends left if I have to.

One of the rumors was that President Biden has Alzheimer’s disease.

Biden has never been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He has not, to my knowledge, been tested for cognitive decline. His predecessor bragged about “acing” a cognitive test that required him to memorize the words “person, woman, man, camera, TV.” Too bad they didn’t ask him to memorize “compassion, humility, generosity, truth, law.”

Neurologists who have observed Biden’s performance both during the election campaign and after he assumed the presidency say he does not exhibit signs of having Alzheimer’s.

What Biden does have is an inability to speak with articulation, and a speech impediment. Speech pathologists say Biden appears to be thinking of multiple subjects as he speaks, which can cause him to lose his train of thought and not complete his original point. Also, a common strategy for managing a stutter is to pause in one’s speech until the urge to stutter passes, then resume speaking.

Unless we are descending into the barbarism that characterized the previous four years, when people with disabilities where ridiculed and mocked, I see no value in spreading malicious rumors about Biden.

When he is diagnosed by a neurologist, not a urologist with an agenda, and the rumor becomes a fact, then it will be OK to say he has Alzheimer’s. But when it’s Cousin Jed on Facebook making the diagnosis, well, Cousin Jed and his ilk can pop another Natty Lite and sashay across the barn floor at their little hate hoedown by themselves.

The other rumor is that Vice President Harris was a “call girl.”

I had to do a doubletake on that one. I had never heard it before. A “call girl”? Really? So of course I turned to my friend Google for a possible answer.

The rumor seems to be an outgrowth of a one-year relationship Harris had with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. He was married at the time, though he and his wife had been separated for 10 years. The rumor-mongers have it that Harris was a “high-priced call girl” paid to attend events with Brown. A few things about that.

Dating somebody who occupies a spot higher on the power curve doesn’t make one a “call girl” or a “gigolo.” It might make them an ambitious power-grasper and that was my impression of Hillary Clinton after she remained with hubby Bill once the Monica Lewinsky story came to light. But I have no reason to think that about Harris because I don’t know a whole lot about her relationship with Brown. Maybe they actually liked each other. I don’t know, and I hasten to add that Cousin Jed on Facebook doesn’t know either. I also hasten to add that even if Harris did pursue a relationship with Brown to further her career, that peccadillo is about a 2 on a 1-to-10 scale of sin. It certainly doesn’t make her a “call girl.” And in light of the actual crimes, possible crimes, and documented cases of favor-currying, exhibitions of execrable taste and embarrassing improprieties by the previous administration that were either overlooked or forgiven, I see no reason for critics to fuss about Harris’ strategies for breaking the glass ceiling.

But mostly I just don’t want to hear this nonsense anymore. I’ve filled this lifetime’s quota of science-hating disinformation, agenda-driven quackery and political jingoism mindlessly and irresponsibly circulated by uninformed xenophobes who would rather support a traitorous insurrectionist criminal than allow a trans woman to hold a Cabinet-level position.

My solution is to delete the @$%&ers. I know. Not very nice.

But it’s what I got for now.

About the author:

Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”

Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.

As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.

Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .