When a leaked dossier containing dozens of unverified, anonymous claims about Donald Trump’s connections to Russia was published on BuzzFeed yesterday, it caused a complete sensation all across the internet. Millions read the scandalous accusations from an uncorroborated, anonymous source, and the moment they did, they understood what they had to do: Droves of responsible BuzzFeed readers have now booked plane tickets and are flying to Moscow to verify the information in the Trump dossier themselves!
“When I noticed the BuzzFeed report mentioned that its information wasn’t verified yet, I immediately knew it was my duty to conduct a full-scale journalistic investigation into every last one of the claims,” said Long Island resident Donna Strickland, who plans to spend at least three months in Moscow thoroughly vetting the dossier. “I’m grateful to BuzzFeed for giving me this opportunity to decide for myself if what I’ve read is true. They’ve done their job, but before I start sharing this story all over the internet or jumping to any conclusions, I’ve got to travel to Russia to see if it all holds up.”
Strickland is just one of millions of pragmatic, conscientious people traveling to Russia to confirm the validity of the information in the dossier before jumping to any conclusions. All of Moscow’s major airports have reported that hundreds of flights are arriving filled exclusively with American readers possessing the necessary resources and journalistic acumen to track down and question key officials within the Russian government in order to definitively assess the dossier’s veracity.
Yes! If this doesn’t renew your faith in the power of journalism, nothing will!
“On the plane I met a woman from Nebraska who was taking an online course in Russian so that she can interview the manager and housekeeping staff of the Ritz Carlton in Moscow, find out if any of them could confirm any of the sexual acts described in the dossier, and review several years’ worth of potentially relevant security camera footage,” Strickland says. “The man in line behind me at customs was a high school math teacher from Burbank who’s planning to conduct a series of meticulous interviews with high-ranking members of the Kremlin, pressing them on the exact details of the report. Of course, none of us will be sharing anything about this story on social media until we’re certain it’s 100 percent reliable.”
Now that’s how you consume the news responsibly! It’s encouraging to see just how many readers are dutifully investigating the unsubstantiated information presented in BuzzFeed’s story. Donald Trump is a controversial and polarizing figure, so it would have been easy to take inflammatory information about him at face value. Fortunately, we can rest easy knowing that there are millions of level-headed, ethical internet users who know that they are honor-bound to fully examine every primary source document and ensure its incontrovertible truth.
Faith in humanity restored!
