Seasons Greetings!

Russell and I want to wish all of you a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your friends and families, and don’t overdo it on the sweet potato casserole (impossible).

We are in the office through tomorrow, and then returning ten pounds heavier bright-and-early on Monday.

Be safe, and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Veterans Day is a time to honor all of those who served, and thank them for their service. Their courage and sacrifice in defense of their country deserves our endless respect and admiration. So if you encounter a veteran today, be it family, friend or stranger, let them know how much you appreciate them.

With Veterans Day in mind, I’m also going to recommend that all of our readers, if you haven’t already, watch the documentary “Restrepo.” Directed by photojournalists Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington (who was later killed covering the Libyan Civil War), the film chronicles the experience of the 173^rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in the Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley.

It is a visceral documentary, to say the least, depicting a group of soldiers dug-in on a mountainside observation post over the course of a year. It shows the horrors of war, but also has a distinct human-interest aspect to it, serving as a reminder that these individuals who volunteer in our country’s defense—the ones whose acts of bravery and heroism are celebrated on Veterans Day—are also young men and women—many still teenagers.

“Restrepo” shows the strength and sacrifice of the American Soldier, and it comes highly recommended (I believe it’s on Netflix).

So while we should show our respect and admiration for our veterans daily, make sure you make that phone call or shake that hand on the street today. These people put their lives on hold to protect us, and deserve to know how much they are appreciated.

Today’s blog is a bit early and a bit of a departure from the usual Tuesday fodder, as today is November 3: Election Day. There are many important decisions to be made on ballots across the country today, so this is me imploring you to get out and vote. Ask your boss for an extended lunch, sneak out a bit early — make any necessary arrangements to make sure that your voice is heard and your ballot counted.

I vote by mail every year because I’m not a fan of crowds, or lines, or mobs of people handing me fliers. But I can assure you, my boss and PR/PR’s President, Mr. Russell Trahan, will be in the thick of it to get his “I Voted” sticker. The opportunity to have a voice in the political process should not be taken for granted, so brave the crowds and cast your ballot today!

While social media has streamlined our ability to connect and share information instantaneously, it has also created a medium for the distribution of mass-misinformation. The Onion is universally recognized and lauded as a trailblazer in the area of satire, but in a world where web-clicks amount to cash-flow, a more sinister trend has emerged with online content creators claiming to emulate the Onion’s model, but providing news stories that lack in humor and are blatantly false.

Essentially, they are peddling lies to be shared on Facebook and Twitter, and monetizing these fraudulent news stories as they go viral. I cannot begin to count how many times I have seen a link on my newsfeed to a story about Breaking Bad returning for a sixth season, celebrity death hoaxes, or that the Ebola virus has reached (insert small town here). Not only are these websites propagating falsehoods for monetary gain—they are actually influencing opinion to the point that results in PR personnel statements to combat the truth-distortions.

“Don’t believe everything you read on Facebook” should be the tagline for the Social Media Age. To combat the influx of misinformation that elicits reactions ranging from elation to overwhelming paranoia, Facebook announced in August that it would begin experimenting with a “satire” tag on links. Targeted less at the Onion than the wealth of websites hiding under the umbrella of “satire” to rationalize their existence (only denoted in the fine print on their sites), Facebook incorporating this functionality, in my opinion, would be a public service.

Conspiracy theory is often romanticized. Occam’s razor be damned, it’s in human nature to propose the “what ifs” and alternate explanations relating to certain events. This is especially prevalent on social media because of its conversational nature, and the thread that tends to develop when someone decides to post a controversial or unconfirmed story. As people we value attention, and nowhere is it easier to receive it than online in the form of likes, comments and shares.

Unfortunately when that online attention works as promoting propaganda, something has to be done. As of yet, Facebook has not instituted the ability to tag links as “satire,” but with any hope it arrives soon before the fiction becomes indistinguishable from reality.