Glossing over the truth in order to serve your idea of the greater good; it’s the kind of media manipulation normally associated with slick businessman or crooked politicians. But it’s also a tactic employed by little guys like the Seattle chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit environmental group that made a big stink over fecal levels at Golden Gardens, only to pucker up once it was revealed that their own data was full of shit.According to the P-I, last month Surfrider issued a frightening report on the Ballard beach, saying that the amount of poop running through a stream in the sand — a popular “splash area” for kids — was 10 times higher than accepted levels.The city responded immediately — nothing promotes action like a claim that children are literally frolicking in crap — by posting warning signs and sending out its own testers, who came back with normal numbers that didn’t match Surfrider’s alarming results.”They’re testing the wrong spot,” was the confident reply from Surfrider’s environmental campaign coordinator. Except that they weren’t.Turns out, the city’s data was correct. It was Surfrider that had screwed up; accidentally confusing the number that represented all bacteria in the water for the number that represented only that of the fecal variety.But rather than apologize or publicize their mistake, Surfrider decided to stay mum. Why? Because, in the words of an employee, it “does not change the end result, that urban streams are still not healthy places to be in.””To issue a media release saying our (data was flawed), tomorrow we’re going to see a bunch of kids out there,” she went on. “We don’t want to lose the public who might say, ‘Oh, it’s safe now, I’m going to let my kids drink that, and roll around in it.’ “Translation: It’s OK to manipulate people with falsehoods, so long as you’re manipulating them in the right direction. And man does that stink.