May 18, 2007
World Net Daily’s inaccuracies and blatant, fact-bending bias would be the source of much great humor, if so many gullible conservatives did not take the thing seriously.
Recently WND featured a story about the impossibility of changing light bulbs to save energy, alleging that doing so might turn one’s home into a toxic waste dump that costs $2,000 per bulb to clean up. Was anyone suckered in by the story?
According to Snopes.com, both Fox News and the Financial Post also got suckered, probably from the WND story.
Chiefly, that these news outlets got suckered is evidence they need better copy editors and fact checkers. Time for such news organizations to raise the pay of their “morgue” keepers and librarians, to get the facts straight. Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
5 Comments | 
Accuracy, Environmental protection, Hoaxes, Journalism, Politics, Science | Tagged: CFL, Environmental protection, Gullibility, hoax, Journalism ethics, Nasty Politics, Toxic wastes | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
May 11, 2007
Daily Kos I don’t get to daily. But here’s a post I did see that all history teachers ought to read, if only to raise their consciousness about the frauds that plague us every day: Help Fight Fake History that Powers the American Right.
Chris Rodda needs help supporting her research against all the old dogs of history revisionism, and the post from Troutfishing goes through most of the dishonor roll: D. James Kennedy, David Barton, Catherine Millard, and Chuck Norris
Rodda’s blog series can be found at Talk2Action.
My interest in getting history done right was kindled when high school teachers mentioned early versions of David Barton’s work — stuff that showed up on tests, though anyone who had read our texts and had a passing knowledge of real history would have known was in error. As a staffer in the U.S. Senate I had to got to read letters from people who bought the Barton tales lock, stock, and monkey barrel, and who consequently felt that everyone else on Earth was lying to them.
I wish Rodda luck.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
4 Comments | Accuracy, Bad Quotes, Bogus history, Capturing history, Citizenship, Current History, Curricula, Education, History, History Revisionism, Hoaxes | Tagged: Bogus history, Education, History, History Revisionism, Hoaxes, Quotes | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
March 24, 2007
This site will challenge your hoax detectors — just enough facts to ring true, enough humor to make the parodies appealing and likely to be repeated as fact. This Day in Mythstory is written by Chris Regan, a humor writer formerly with “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
When the professionals hoax up history, at least they do it in good faith.
(This site is probably funnier if you know which parts are accurate, and which are not. Basically, the historical events cited are real, though the reasons given are suspect. Each of these pieces might make a good warm-up to get students discussing what is accurate, and what is humor.)
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | History, Hoaxes, Humor, Teaching, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
March 9, 2007
1968 brought one chunk of bad news after another to Americans. The year seemed to be one long, increasingly bad disaster. In several ways it was the mark of the times between the feel-good, post-war Eisenhower administration and the feel-good-despite-the-Cold-War Reagan administration. 1968 was depressing.
What was so bad? Vietnam manifested itself as a quagmire. Just when Washington politicians predicted an end in sight, Vietcong militia launched a nationwide attack in South Vietnam on the Vietnamese New Year holiday, Tet, at the end of January. Civil rights gains stalled, and civil rights leaders came out in opposition to the Vietnam war. President Johnson fared poorly in the New Hampshire primary election, and eventually dropped out of the race for the presidency (claiming he needed to devote time to making peace in Vietnam). Labor troubles roiled throughout the U.S., including a nasty strike by garbage collectors in Memphis. It didn’t help to settle the strike that the sanitation workers were almost 100% African American, the leadership of Memphis was almost 100% white, and race relations in the city were not so good as they might have been – the strike attracted the efforts of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Martin Luther King, Jr. – who was assassinated there in early April. In response, riots broke out in 150 American cities.
More below the fold, including the key confession to “penetration.” Read the rest of this entry »
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6 Comments | 1968, Dissent, Elections, Free speech, Freedom - Economic, Freedom - Political, Heroes, History, Hoaxes, Space exploration, Vietnam | Tagged: 1968, Confessions, Elections, freedom, History, Hoaxes, Lloyd Bucher, North Korea, Space exploration, USS Pueblo, Vietnam | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
March 1, 2007
Once upon a time I was a graduate student in a rhetoric program. At the same time I was the graduate assistant for the intercollegiate debate program at the University of Arizona, which at the time had an outstanding, nationally-competitive team and a lot of up-and-comers on the squad. From there I moved almost immediately to a political campaign, a sure-loser that we won, and from there to Congressional staffing, writing speeches, editorials, press releases and a few legislative dabbles. Then law school, etc., etc.
Some of the fights I’ve been involved in include air pollution and the laws controlling it, land use in statewide plans, tobacco health warnings, compensation for victims of fallout from atomic bomb tests, food safety, food recall standards, education testing standards, measurement of management effectiveness, noise control around airports, social studies textbooks and biology textbooks, and a few others. Most political issues are marked by people who really don’t understand the information available to them, and many issues are pushed by people who have no ability or desire to understand the issues in any depth.
And so, having survived a few rounds in the crucibles of serious debate with real stakes, I am often amused and frustrated by state education standards that demand teachers teach “critical thinking,” often as not grounded in something that looks like hooey to me.
In one of my internet rambles I came across a site with modest ambitions of continuing discussion of critical thinking. Rationale Thoughts comes out of Australia. The view is a little different, but not too much so (hey, it’s in English, which is a bonus for me).
If you’re looking for sources to seriously understand what critical thinking is, this is one place you would be well-advised to check. You might find especially useful this list for “further reading” in the topic.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | Accuracy, Brain development, Brain learning, Creativity, Education, Hoaxes, Pedagogy, Research, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
February 27, 2007
A fascinating, tragic hoax has unraveled in the classical music world. Dozens of performances by relatively unknown — but great — pianists were pirated, credited to a great pianist dying of cancer, and made internet hits.
The hoax that lives by the internet, dies by the internet, Jesus might have said. A music critic loaded one of the released discs into his iPod list on his computer, and it identified it as being performed by someone else.
Joyce Hatto had retired due to ovarian cancer in the 1970s, but started releasing recordings made at home in 1989. This was not unusual — her husband was a recording engineer. The quietly-released, small-label recordings got good reviews and a faithful audience. As time went on, the recordings became more ambitious, and the quality of the piano playing of the dying woman audibly increased.
Questions arose earlier this year. Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Business Ethics, Creativity, Hoaxes, Music, Music education, Plagiarism | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
February 21, 2007
For a decade of my life I was deeply involved in the fight to get compensation for downwind victims (most from Utah) of the fallout from U.S. atomic bomb tests at the Nevada Test Site. In the course of that time I saw a variety of amazing fibs told by the government — hoaxes that injured and killed people. I grew to respect those whistleblowers who had the guts and patriotism to cry foul on the hoaxes.
Leroy Lee died about a month ago in Santa, Idaho. He was a seasonal government worker, a timber stand examiner — a tree counter. As low guy on the totem pole, it was not his job to take the global view. Still, he noted that there were fewer growing trees in the forests than the U.S. Forest Service claimed, and much more cleared land, too, clearcut.
The Forest Service was lying to Congress about millions of dollars of harvests on public lands. Lee blew the whistle. Officials had hoaxed up on paper, forests that didn’t exist, in 15 of the west’s National Forests.
It wasn’t a big scandal as scandals go, but the Kootenai National Forest still works to straighten things out, mostly in litigation. Most hoaxes are exposed by honest, hard-working people like Leroy Lee. They are heroes of our republic. Many of them remain unsung, like Lee.
In his “day job,” Lee taught physics, chemistry and biology at St. Maries High School, St. Maries, Idaho.
More information:
- Lowbagger.org, “Scientist who unearthed ‘phantom forest’ scandal dies”
- Spokane, Washington, Spokesman-Review, “Forest Activist, Leroy Lee, 50, Dies.“
- Demarcated Landscapes, “Update, Leroy Lee Ceremony” and “Leroy Lee, 1956-2007“
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Business Ethics, Environmental protection, Ethics, Freedom - Political, Hoaxes, Natural history, Patriotism, Science, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
February 17, 2007
The hoax is that Richard von Sternberg is an innocent who is unfairly maligned, to the point he fears for his job as Jack Cashill writes at right-wing fluff WorldNet Daily. Ed Brayton is at his best (“WorldNut Daily Flogs Dead Sternberg Horse), and there’s very little I could add — but it’s a good read, and important to know in the world of hoax-busting and pseudo-science bashing.
Read the full Brayton piece at Dispatches from the Culture Wars.
Sidenote 1: Sternberg as Galileo? Dembski as Newton? IDists are nothing if not full of themselves, and hubris.
Sidenote 2: A very funny novel by Robert Klane carries the title, The Horse is Dead. For some unfathomable reason, it is out of print. I have not found a copy in the past year for less than $150 (which suggests the TrashFiction site’s opinion of the book may be incorrect). Couldn’t some enterprising publisher bring it back, to more fully, and fictionally, fill in the details for what “beating a dead horse” means?
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Creationism, Ethics, Hoaxes, Intelligent Design, Science, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
February 15, 2007
First they deny science, then all of reality, then they deny that they denied. Or something like that.
Georgia State Rep. Ben Bridges denies having written or sent the memorandum that was circulated in his name to Texas state legislators earlier this week. The Atlanta Constitution provides the incredible details in this morning’s edition:
“I did not put it out nor did I know it was going out,” Bridges said. “I’m not defending it or taking up for it.”
The memo directs supporters to call Marshall Hall, president of the Fair Education Foundation Inc., a Cornelia, Ga.-based organization that seeks to show evolution is a myth. Hall said he showed Bridges the text of the memo and got his permission to distribute it.
“I gave him a copy of it months ago,” said Hall, a retired high school teacher. “I had already written this up as an idea to present to him so he could see what it was and what we were thinking.”
Hall said his wife Bonnie has served as Bridges’ campaign manager since 1996.
Bridges acknowledged that he talked to Hall about filing legislation this year that would end the teaching of evolution in Georgia’s public schools. Bridges said the views in the memo belong to Hall, though Bridges said he doesn’t necessarily disagree with them.
It’s getting so creationists no only can’t do science straight, can’t do religion straight — they can’t even tell whoppers straight. Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | Accuracy, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Darwin, Education, Evolution, Freedom - Political, Hoaxes, Public education, Religious Freedom, Science, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
February 14, 2007
I’ve never seen a pro-breast cancer post before. That post is easily as crazy as the kid I had in class who said he’d never let his “baby mama” breast feed his son, because he didn’t want his son to be “homo.” That was from a kid steaming to be a high school dropout.
Nuts. Why don’t people just stick to the facts?
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | Accuracy, Freedom - Political, Hoaxes, Politics, Public health, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
February 6, 2007
Humor would be impossible without the newspapers, but a lot of really funny stuff happens that never makes it there.
Shortcut: The National Pork Board is working for a happy solution with The Lactivist, who had previously been threatened with legal action for promoting breastfeeding with a t-shirt that says: “The Other White Milk.”
When I taught in a program that included the district’s teen pregnancy courses, I had a kid who one day, out of the blue, insisted that he’d never let his “baby momma” breast feed his son, “because I don’t want him growing up to be homo.” When such eruptions of ignorance and bigotry occur, what is to be done?
As luck would have it, he was studying the Progressive Era, and we had a lengthy discussion on public health issues, and how to improve the health of the population overall. We found several websites (which, if available through the district’s filters, were non-objectionable) discussing the value of breastfeeding in giving kids a head start on health and brain development. My student was skeptical.
In the face of that kind of health-threatening ignorance and such bizarre hoaxes, one quickly comes to understand that radical campaigns to promote breastfeeding are required — even those that depend on humor.
You will get a few laughs, and eventual hope for a happy resolution, following the story of Lactivist’s tussle with the marketers at the Pork Council, with a special tip of the old scrub brush to Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.
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Leave a Comment » | Hoaxes, Humor, Public education, Public health, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
February 3, 2007
Chuck Colson claims to have found God, while in prison, and changed his ways. He’s got a newspaper column and radio feature called “Breakpoint” which generally covers issues at least tangentially related to ministry and church work.
But he’s either fallen victim to a great hoax, or he’s in on it and spread it.
Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars alerted us to Colson’s “Breakpoint” commentary dated February 2, in which Colson repeats the disproven claims that Judge John E. Jones of the Middle District of Pennsylvania “plagiarized” significant portions of his decision. The charges are completely out of line, and have not held up under scrutiny. The claims were invented by people at the Discovery Institute who have no knowledge of how federal civil trials work, who misinterpreted trial procedures, and who made an invalid count of the words in the decision (failing to account for most of the 129 pages of the work for reasons that have never been explained).
If this catches you unaware of the issue, you can catch up with several posts. Attorney and Panda’s Thumb contributor Tim Sandefur explains how the charges are false here. Sandefur’s earlier explanation of the statistical errors behind the false claims is here (also at Panda’s Thumb).
You should act. If your local newspaper carries Colson’s column, notify them of the hoax. Give them the links above, and urge them to contact the press people at the National Center for Science Education for comment. Tell them they can quote Panda’s thumb, and that they can contact Sandefur, Brayton, or me, for comment.
Similarly, if your local radio station carries Colson’s commentaries, notify the station. Stations need to check to be sure they are not broadcasting hoaxes for license renewal reasons (though the FCC polices this issue rarely, and not often well).
Were Colson a practicing attorney, of course, he’d probably remember how federal trial procedures work, and not make such errors.
You can help him recall.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
22 Comments | Accuracy, Creationism, Evolution, Hoaxes, Intelligent Design, Journalism, Justice, Plagiarism | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 31, 2007
Do I correctly recall that President Bush suggested Republicans and Democrats can work together?
How long ago was that?
Already the right-wing hoax machine is out in force (Swift Boat Veterans again?). A couple of people sent me the latest hoax against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, claiming she was advocating a 100% tax on incomes of the rich. To be really fair and accurate, we need to note the hoax has been circulating since at least October.
Pelosi didn’t say she favors a 100% tax. The e-mail circulating is a hoax.
Snopes.com, that grand internet ally for getting the story straight, has a debunking post up.
Here are a few of the victims of the hoax:
It’s almost painful to watch how quickly some people succumb to hoaxes like these. One hopes the perpetrators of the hoaxes get the same twinge of regret that Mencken got from the Fillmore bathtub hoax — but one may be hoping against experience.
So far as I can tell, no one who posted the hoax has yet corrected the post, or noted the error (in a few places, others have written in to note the hoax).
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
5 Comments | Accuracy, Bad Quotes, Bogus history, Current History, H. L. Mencken, Hoaxes, Politics, Quotes, Voodoo history | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 22, 2007
Town Hall in Leuven, Belgium; image from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Did I really miss this last month? A television network in Belgium, RTBF, started out the morning reporting on the breakup of Belgium. Rather contrary to the rules of hoaxes set up by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre, no mention of a dramatization was made for at least a half-hour.
And of course, it was all a hoax. The network said they wanted to generate discussion about how Belgium works, etc., etc. Not everyone was happy with the kickoff to discussion.
I have no particular dog in that fight, though I’m fond of Belgium. My wife spent a year studying in Louvin (Louvain, Leuven) (before I knew her), and we have wonderful photos. My own business trip to Brussells was less than 24 hours, though we conducted our business in lightning fashion and were able to spend the evening in a wonderfully lit historic square sampling several brands of beer — okay, many brands. We all made it to the Oh-Dark-thirty airplane home the next morning (some in better shape than others).
It’s always an eye-opener to learn how little most people know about the country, though it plays a huge role in the European Union, in NATO, and in the history of the 20th century, especially World Wars I and II.
Now it appears even Belgians don’t know whether their nation would break up or not. Jacques Brel is no longer alive and well.
More:
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
3 Comments | Current History, Geography - Political, History, Hoaxes, Humor, Music education, Travel | Tagged: Belgium, History, Hoaxes, Humor, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 10, 2007
Mencken's Corona Typewriter, at the Mencken Room in the Enoch Pratt Library, Baltimore, Maryland
The typewriter that belonged to H. L. Mencken. Photo by the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, Maryland. [Update, April 15, 2007: The photo has moved, and is restricted by copyright; you may follow the links to view the original photo of the typewriter, at the site of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. E.D.]
Was this the machine upon which Mencken composed the Millard Fillmore/Bathtub hoax? Perhaps. It was used prior to 1930.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
6 Comments | Fillmore's bathtub, H. L. Mencken, Hoaxes, Journalism, Newspapers | Tagged: Enoch Pratt Library, H. L. Mencken, History, Hoaxes, Journalism, Literature, Technology, Typewriters | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 