Resistance is futile? Stopping the spread of false information.

As many of you know, those of you that have read my blogs that is, I have a pet peeve about the spread of false information on the Internet. Specifically, I hate when a person, trying to further their own cause, makes up a fact or statement that is totally untrue. It irks me to no end because I value the Internet for its intended purpose, the spread of knowledge. Knowledge to me is based on fact.
Recently I found a post on Facebook that makes the claim that Dianne Fienstein said "that when the gunman realizes no one else is armed then he will turn himself in, that is human nature." First she never made such a statement and the source of this was a now defunct satirical website. The problem is people believe she actually said this and spread it around. People use it to justify the 2nd amendment by using this to support their argument against gun control. People call Senator Fienstein stupid for saying this. Well let us examine the first part.
When you are debating an issue you want to do it in such a way that is logical and persuasive. The best way to make sure you stay logical and persuasive is to have a good foundation to your argument based on facts. "Facts" are true not made up. If during your argument someone sees your "facts" are false they will chip away your foundation and your whole argument will collapse. Even if only one part of your facts is false you damage your foundation. If you catch a person in a lie you find it hard to believe anything else they say; it's human nature. Why risk discrediting yourself with falsehoods if the issue is important to you. If somethings is important to you the treat it with care and respect. Verify your facts!
The second part. So you believe Senator Fienstein made the statement and she is stupid and you know better. First she did not make the statement so you cannot use it to say she is stupid. Second, you cannot justify knowing better because the statement wasn't made. How can you know better than she does? You don't know what she knows because she didn't say it. There is something to be said. Between the truth and a lie there is commonsense. Commonsense favors the truth, foolishness favors the lie.
Our society has become dependent on the Internet yet the Internet is fool of falsehoods and more are being generated everyday. Our we to base our society on lies? Do we base our lives on lies?
If we do then our foundation is weak and the coming collapse will be inevitable. Resist falsehood resist the lies. It would be sad indeed if something designed to better mankind by the sharing of knowledge instead brought about its destruction with ignorance.