For the past several years I have been receiving a lot of Facebook posts and emails that simply aren’t true.

Spreading misinformation is a pet peeve of mine. Actually, it’s more than just a pet peeve — it’s a line I refuse to cross as a political consultant specializing in research and the dissemination of information.

I am fully convinced that there are consultants who are paid by political parties and campaigns to deliberately create and spread misinformation. I wouldn’t even be surprised if misinformation was their specialty.

The most frustrating part of the situation is that average citizens are allowing themselves to be tools of propaganda by forwarding misinformation over the internet.

Even more frustrating is that it takes fewer than 10 seconds to fact-check something. Through the industrious work of sites like Factcheck.org, Politifact.org and Snopes.com, most Facebook posts and emails can be fact-checked simply by performing a Google search on a key phrase.

It takes just 10 seconds to not fall prey to propagandists.

These specialists are taking advantage of the public’s prejudices. They capitalize on the viewpoints of their supporters, create propaganda pieces that tell outlandish stories exemplifying those viewpoints and send those pieces onto the Internet where people read them and forward them.

The goals of the pieces are simple. They enrage a given audience, give supporters even more reason to further the causes of the creators and bring new members into the fold.

Help stop the lies. If someone sends me something that isn’t true, I respond with a link to the truth. I’ve even been known to do a “respond to all.”

A simple rule is: If it seems outlandish, it is probably not true. Check to make sure.