inkbluesky

The extent of it and the weight they give it is funny in a pathetic kind of way, How Fools Communicate - Right-wing internet chain mail,

From the beginning, the vast majority of these Internet-disseminated rumors have come from the right. (Snopes lists about fifty e-mails about George W. Bush, split evenly between adulatory accounts of him saluting wounded soldiers or witnessing to a wayward teenager, and accounts of real and invented malapropisms. In contrast, every single one of the twenty-two e-mails about John Kerry is negative.) For conservatives, these e-mails neatly reinforce preconceptions, bending the facts of the world in line with their ideological framework: liberals, immigrants, hippies and celebrities are always the enemy; soldiers and conservatives, the besieged heroes. The stories of the former’s perfidy and the latter’s heroism are, of course, never told by the liberal media. So it’s left to the conservative underground to get the truth out. And since the general story and the roles stay the same, often the actual characters are interchangeable.

“A lot of the chain letters that were accusing Al Gore of things in 2000 were recycled in 2004 and changed to Kerry,” says John Ratliff, who runs a site called BreakTheChain.org, which, like Snopes, devotes itself to debunking chain e-mails. One e-mail falsely described a Senate committee hearing in the 1980s where Oliver North offered an impassioned Cassandra-like warning about the threat of Osama bin Laden, only to be dismissed by a condescending Democratic senator. Originally it was Al Gore who played the role of the senator, but by 2004 it had changed to John Kerry. “You just plug in your political front-runner du jour,” Ratliff says.

While this internet trend shouldn’t be ignored the things they’re saying have simply moved from mass mailings, regular chain mail, some church related activities ( such as the late Jerry Falwell), TV, AM radio and small special interest magazines onto the net. Sure there is probably a gullible now and then, but mostly its a reaffirmation of that already have a certain bent. Part of the reason that more moderate Americans have such a difficult time debating them in forums is not because your facts are wrong, but because you’re literally challenging the Right’s version of the truth. They’ve invested their entire being into myths about Senator Kerry, the Clintons and of late all the world’s Muslims. So when you for example bring up the fact that the Pentagon and the Department of Defense found that John Kerry did in fact have a distinguished military career it is as though you threw a stone at their front window. They don’t want to hear that, they refuse to digest it, yet have little problem rationalizing away George W. Bush ducking into the Guard to avoid the draft.

all shiny and new

New Rembrandt’ discovered

A painting valued in the vicinity of 1,000 euros has been sold for thee million. The piece, now thought to be a Rembrandt self-portrait, had hung on the walls of the owner’s house for years.

This even though the Rembrandt Research Project, THE experts on Rembrandt has yet to examine it.

Interesting look at balancing being an achiever and taking time to relax,  Less Homework, More Yoga, From a Principal Who Hates Stress