Hey, you remember how the story last week was that one of the VP candidates was so pig-shit stupid, that Africa's status as a continent was beyond the candidate's grasp? And that this came from supposed campaign aides who briefed the candidate?
Well guess what... it was an intentional hoax that the newspapers and networks ran with. It turns out that the hoaxers fed a bunch of other stuff into the news cycle, like stuff about Joe the Plumber having ties to a disgraced and convicted Wall Street Financier. The NY Times outed the hoaxers today, which is kind of ironic.
You should probably ask yourself what other little bits of insanity were hoaxes, and whether you lapped them up because they sounded too good not to be true.
It's called "confirmation bias." Most people suffer from it, causing various degrees of intellectual debilitation.
It's fine to question authority but it's probably useful to question yourself first. At least I try to. If I'm going to be attempting to throw some intellectual high heat, it helps if I'm not standing way out in left field when I throw. Detracts from the accuracy, you know?
Update: Just so's your clear, it's a bipartisan illness.
10 comments:
It appears I can't make a joke that sounds as rounded and "joke-like" as I hoped. Ever :)
Did you see the bit Comedy Central did on Berkley protesting Marine recruiters? Granola - take out the nuts and fruits, and all you have left are flakes.
Whoops, another non-rounded joke :-\ Happy Thurs!
Yeah, well, it's a bipartisan disease I'm afraid Pete.
I spent much of the last 15 years working in television newsrooms. It's scary what people will overlook so they can validate their preconceived notions. Then they'll turn around and pass that off as "news"
Just to be clear, the source is faked, but the leak was not. The AP made this abundantly clear-
"The hoax was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin — not the Fox News story itself. While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony."
No, but it does illustrate the level of credulity, that the rumor is now taken as fact. The initial allegation from unnamed sources, according to the McCain staffer assigned to brief Palin on Africa issues (a named source), is completely false, and probably came from campaign communications staff who didn't like Palin's independent streak. That information has been out there since last Thursday or Friday, and since it appeared in an interview in the conservative press, you'd think Fox at least would have taken notice. Neither did.
I think it's kind of disgusting, to tell the truth, and when insane rumors about the incoming prez hit the press, and the credulous swallow them and start spitting them back out, you'd do well to remember this.
You may also want to google Greg Packer, and hit the NY Times database with a search for Heywood Jablome - two men who are always on the spot with a good quote. Nobody is immune from confirmation bias.
"neither Fox nor MSNBC did."
Fox broke the story. Other news sources have credited Fox with the story. The unnamed source was was Carl Cameron's. Whatever you think about unnamed sources, they exist. It is up to the news provider to vet the source. Dan Rather lost his career to poor vetting. The loser here is Fox news. If it isn't true, they reported a bad story, based on an unvetted source. If it is true, some people won't believe it anyway, because of the unnamed source. I imagine the insider book will come out that will clear it up in three months, but no one will remember Fox was right. They will remember that they were wrong.
The other issue is whether a public figure deserves deference, and it shouldn't be reported unless it can be proven definitively.
>>>no one will remember Fox was right. They will remember that they were wrong.
I disagree. I'm fairly certain what everybody will remember was the first story out of the gate, that Palin doesn't know Africa is a continent. That's now received wisdom among a lot of my friends, kind of like the stories about her baby not being her own. Once an accusation like that is made - like the Dem primary rumor that the Prez elect wasn't born in the U.S. - it's about impossible to unring the bell.
Agreed, I did not hear about the hoax until now on a blog. So her not knowing Africa is a continent still rings true to me, no matter what they say now. 5 schools, one degree, then they throw her under the bus. Can we say Republican Scapegoat. I bet she is wishing Alaska seceded now...
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