Quote of the day

For instance, I know a lot of antiBush myths which have been created on the web. Well, the litany of nonsense propagated on the web is extensive. Suffice it to say, i don’t now if we’ve entered into an era where the left no longer controls the message.

Hiney Von Pewps on February 16, 2008 at 11:08 PM

Here’s the other end of that search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22goddamn+piece+of+paper%22+%22fake+quote%22

Hiney Von Pewps on February 16, 2008 at 11:13 PM

Fake Lincoln Quotes: A case study

If one performs a very generalized search string such as lincoln “fake quote”, one is immdiately presented with dozens of deunkings of this:

Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged. — President Abraham Lincoln

…as uttered by Republican Rep. Don young (out of 1750 hits).

Indeed if we narrow the search to lincoln saboteurs hanged “fake quote”, you get 88 hits.

Contrastingly we can look at a fake Lincoln quote progressives use dependably:

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”

…using the search string lincoln corporations enthroned “fake quote”, we end up with 10 hits.

including
1 false positive for the entire string,

1 false positive for “fake quote” in a page which asserts the fake quote,

2 hits from democrat forums asserting the second fake quote while linking triumphantly to debunkings of the first fake quote,

1 hit to a “rebunking” of the fake quote.

3 hits to liberal pages where the fake quote is debunked in the comments.

…and only one conservative blog actually debunking the fake “corporations have been enthroned” quote.

Hiney Von Pewps on February 17, 2008 at 12:02 AM

but who debunked the ol’ “G–damned piece of Paper” rumor,

see-dubya on February 17, 2008 at 12:43 AM

According to google, one per four thousand six hundred and fifty people who spread it around.

If the information is out there, it hardly seems to matter. If the stats on the “self-correcting” nature of the blogosphere is that a lefty lie is debunked once for every 4650 times it’s told, while righty misattributions are debunked 90 times per single incidence, then I don’t see how conservatives would conclude that they’ve been liberated from the MSM’s leftwing information control by the internet.

Hiney Von Pewps on February 17, 2008 at 1:03 AM