(no subject)

[nancylebov]

[Poll #639709]

Comments

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Well, the thing is that students have been trulky contacted for similar situations (like the high school student in California who was visited for having PLO on his notebook), and the thing is too that the George Bush AWOL record was a true thing which was discredited on sketchy grounds, and yet there have been hoaxes like a group of photos of British Army guys doing things to people with burlap sacks on their heads. And again, librarians have been not cooperating with the Patriot Act.

So I'm agnostic. The story doesn't matter anyway: the Patriot Act is still wrong.

[zenlizard]

Remember, the wonderful thing about conspiracy theories is that they are self-sustaining; any attempt to debunk the conspiracy theory becomes, by definition, part fo the conspiracy.

It therefore follows that the ultimate conspiracy theory is that there is a conspiracy to *admit* that there is a conspiracy.

Don't believe me? Just try to disprove it.


All things are true in some sense, false in some sense, meaningless in some sense, true and meaningless in some sense, false and meaningless in some sense, true and false in some sense, and true and false and meaningless in some sense.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I believe the retraction, but I also think it will hereafter be used by the gov't and its supporters to debunk intrusive gov't actions: "Oh, it's just a made-up story; remember that student who ..."

[ckd]

I had my doubts about the story, but this administration's admitted behavior made it more believable than it would have been otherwise.

[madfilkentist]

I have to answer with the first response, though doubts started coming quickly, and I think I was one of the first people to express them in Internet discussion; see my post in SLOF, which I edited within a couple of hours of posting.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I did believe it, and am now disappointed at the retraction, because of the Boy Who Cried Wolf syndrome; I think it's now likelier that something like this will happen, and people ho-hum about it, due to this kid's story. We definitely need to repeal the entire USA PATRIOT Act; it will be a modest but firm start on restoring this to "the land of the free."

What a shame.

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

Your post was the first I'd heard of the hoax, though I saw the retraction earlier, here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/rss_librarylink/274917.html).

[sethg]

It gives me hope that some day I will wake up to the news that the whole Iraq war was staged in some studio backlot in Nevada.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what the tempest is about.

[kressel.livejournal.com]

This is the first I've heard of it. Are the student's intentions known? It doesn't seem like a mere ploy for attention. It seems like he was trying to put in a protest about the Patriot Act and it backfired badly. If so, then he really did damage to the Left. I can just imagine what Rush Limbaugh and the like are saying about it.

[zsero.livejournal.com]

I did not believe it, but I was afraid to say so, because I knew that the usual suspects would lay into me and demand proof that the story was false, which I could not provide. I didn't feel like yet another online flame war over it. So I kept quiet. But I was not in the least surprised to learn that it was a hoax.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

"I never believed the story" is too strong. I had not made up my mind about the story by the time the retraction came out; I was skeptical and awaiting further information. In general, I don't like to believe or disbelieve sensational news revelations till they've stood up to a while of various people and organizations' nosy inquiries for some weeks.

Whatever

[nwl.livejournal.com]

I'm generally skeptical of news stories that somehow strike me as a little too, I can't put my finger on it, too pat maybe. Since it didn't get much play in the media (I only saw it in LJ) I suspect they knew something was up. Generally, the media will skip stories that may not be accurate. Then there are the ones out in left field that you feel the need to give the person a dope slap if you could get close enough.

Recently there was an Amber Alert for two kids who had been kidnapped by the mother's boyfriend, as reported by the mother in a call to her relatives. Well, the car type and plates were reported on the news, etc. The next morning the police surprised the boyfriend at his house, where the mother and children were staying. Then the police were surprised when the mother said they hadn't been kidnapped at all! Her phone call to her relatives was a hoax because her family didn't like the boyfriend. I'm not sure what she thought the family would do, but they called the cops, as any person with a brain would do. The police may charge her with a false report.

If she didn't want her family to know she was staying with the guy, why.... what an idiot.

So, I suspect (actually I'm not sure I have a point) the student was some idiot who had an overdue book and said that to cover it up. It's always the cover up that gets them.