Thursday, September 10, 2009

Debunking The Bullshit, vol. 1

This may be a regular thing, god knows I get enough of these asinine emails.

My grandfather, I love him dearly, but he has a problem. His problem is that he will readily and willfully believe any right-wing propaganda you put in front of him. Not only will he believe it, but he will also forward it on to all his friends, and family. Sadly, I fear most of them are just as willing to accept this drivel as truth. Lately I’ve begun to become a little disillusioned with constantly debunking the bullshit. I’m almost certain my grandfather either does not even bother reading any responses to the emails he shovels out to everyone in his address book. Or if he does actually read them, he’s so rigid in his bias that he truly believes everything he sends out is absolute gospel, and any rebuttal is patently false.

Basically I spend a lot of time debunking junk email. Hoaxes, conspiracies, political rhetoric, etc. And rather than let them fade into the black nothingness of these inboxes, I’m going to post them here, followed by my rebuttal. I’ll probably revisit some past ones too (yes, I save all my sent email, and almost all of my incoming email. You never know when you’ll need that blackmail... errr, random tidbit of information. Yeah, that’s it!), but today I’m gonna take care of one I just received.

Here’s the text of an email I received today (and I apologize now for the horrendous abuse of the english language* in the author’s commentary. I feel I should also make it clear, my grandfather did not write this, just forwarded it.):

AS IF YOU NEED ANOTHER REASON TO ADMIRE " AMERICA 'S" TIGER WOODS.
Tiger Woods is a Highly Educated Individual who was properly raised and taught to be his own man by an educated Mother and Father.
You can readily see that Tiger Woods listened to his parents and remains very proud of them both.
Many citizens are not aware of the following, which is the reason for me sending this e-mail to my friends and I would appreciate you sending it on to your friends.  Thanks, Frank
A COPY OF HIS SPEECH AT THE 2009 INAUGURATION
Tiger Woods received a special invitation to speak at the Obama inauguration.
His inviters were stunned, shocked when he did not deliver the message they expected.
A brief read and you will understand why the media swept Woods' remarks under the rug with no further ado and why the liberal left of our American society was again displeased with Tiger.
His speech was entitled
 "You'll Never Walk Alone"
[text is word-for-word as posted on Tiger's web site]
"I grew up in a military family - and my role models in life were my Mom and Dad, Lt. Colonel Earl Woods.
My dad was a Special Forces operator and many nights friends would visit our home.
They represented every branch of the service, and every rank.
In my Dad, and in those guests, I saw first hand the dedication and commitment of those who serve.
They come from every walk of life; from every part of our country.
Time and again, across generations, they have defended our safety in the dark of night and far from home.
Each day -- and particularly on this historic day -- we honor the men and women in uniform who serve our country and protect our freedom.
They travel to the dangerous corners of the world, and we must remember that for every person who is in uniform, there are families who wait for them to come home safely.
I am honored that the military is such an important part, not just of my personal life, but of my professional one as well.
The golf tournament we do each year here in Washington is a testament to those unsung heroes.
I am the son of a man who dedicated his life to his country, family and the military, and I am a better person for it.
In the summer of 1864, Abraham Lincoln, the man at whose memorial we stand, spoke to the 164th Ohio Regiment and said, 'I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country.'
Just as they have stood tall for our country - we must always stand by and support the men and women in uniform and their families.
Thank you, and it is now my pleasure to introduce the US Naval Glee Club ..."
Tiger Woods' 2-minute, 5-second tribute to the our nation's military was delivered January 18th at the Inaugural Celebration in Washington , DC .
He had been subjected to intense pressure to attend and offer remarks.
Especially so by liberals who have demeaned and criticized him for a decade for not joining their ranks.
Yet, at the Lincoln Memorial, instead of paying homage to Barack Obama, Tiger paid tribute to our soldiers.
Not once did Tiger mention Obama, the inauguration or the new administration.
Understanding that expressing his love for America and his appreciation for our military men and women would disappoint the national news media and the liberal left, he did what he thought was best for the people of our country.
But Tiger, being is his own man, just as his father taught him to be his own man.
Somewhere over that cold, gray Washington sky, Colonel Earl Woods was smiling down on his beloved son.
And there will be one more crying hug waiting for Tiger when the time comes he passes through heaven's gates into God's arms.
******
What's that you say?
You did not previously know what Tiger said?
You did not see a video clip of him speaking on any national television network?
You did not see a photo of Tiger at the Lincoln Memorial offering his remarks honoring our military.
You did not read a story in the NY Times?
His appearance at the Inaugural Celebration had been widely hailed and promoted in advance by the Obama inaugural organizers ... yet January 18 when he came and spoke ... afterwards, a black out.
If you are as tired of the biased, hypocritical, liberal media hoopla as I am, please send this on to your friends.  Thanks.




Hell, I shouldn’t even have to post the Snopes link, the email itself says the speech took place on January 18th.  The inauguration was on January 20th.  It was also at the White House, not the Lincoln Memorial, which this email reveals to be the place where this speech happened.

From the email:
“In the summer of 1864, Abraham Lincoln, the man at whose memorial we stand”
“Tiger Woods’ 2-minute, 5-second tribute to the our nation’s military was delivered January 18th”

He’s introducing the US Naval Glee Club, also revealed in the text of the email, of course:
“Thank you, and it is now my pleasure to introduce the US Naval Glee Club”

Now, what happened on January 18th at the Lincoln Memorial, you may wonder? A concert.  As a part of the lead-up to the inauguration ceremony, a concert entitled “We Are One” was held. Broadcast live and uncut on HBO, which they aired for free even to non-HBO subscribers. Unfortunately the video was only available for one week after the event.

But hey, here’s some liberal media covering (or is it “covering up“?) the event live:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/01/61550884/1 you may want to pay particular attention to the update posted at 3:34 pm. Because that’s when Tiger gave his speech. So much for a “liberal media blackout.”

Oh, and here’s a video of it from the live HBO feed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjFIlbF3Nn4 guess they just forgot to flip the switch to kill that feed, huh?

Just for the sake of completion, here’s the Snopes link: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/tigerwoods.asp

There is something I am tired of, though.  I’m tired of the biased, hyperbolic drivel that passes for truth in these emails. You don’t even have to dig for this stuff, it’s all readily available with a quick Google search. I find it appalling that some of you are so eager and willing to believe whatever bullshit is delivered to your inbox. As long as it fits your worldview, it must be true, right?

*I should mention the atrocious misuse of the english language seems to be a common thread in all these political propaganda emails. I don’t know about you, but I certainly wouldn’t be taking any political advice from someone so obviously uneducated. A third grader could form more coherent sentences and paragraphs.

2 comments:

Gail Dixon said...

Good post! I, like you, have a family member that sends these kinds of emails. It drives me crazy and I'm definitely "right wing". Her punishment is frequent computer viruses. I no longer send the snopes link; I just hit delete. It keeps me sane.

Jay said...

You should join me in blogging them :) Even if you don't actually reply to the emails, it's cathartic in a way. At least to me it is :)

You're right leaning, sure, but definitely closer to the middle than say, my grandfather. If we can keep the extremes, the lunatic fringe (left or right) in check, I think that would solve a majority of our problems in this country.