Fun_People Archive
23 Aug
He said/she said

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 100 17:28:45 -0700
To: Fun_People
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Subject: He said/she said 

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From: Nichael Cramer

From: Gordon Joly <gordo@recursion.co.uk>
>Al Gore (the Inventor of the Internet) did not say -
>	[We here at S-T central are too network-savvy around here to
>	have any patience with the ``invented the internet'' canard
>	--- one of _Wired's_ more egregious bits of hyped
>	misreporting.  [...] ]

"This American Life" did a great story[*] on Gore's non-quote about having
"discovered Love Canal", which included playing the speech in which he
allegedly said this.  (Executive summary:  not remotely close.)

The speech was to, primarily, a bunch of high-schoolers.  TAL's story was
about the students who, being present at the actual speech, tried to get
the story corrected in the press.  The subsequent outrage and
disillusionment which they exhibited was quite telling.


Two interesting things about this cluster of myths:

1] How they become self-reinforcing:  The standard reaction to pointing out
that "he didn't say that or anything remotely like that" has become "OK, he
didn't say *that* but look at all these other fibs he's told".

2] How I manage to find myself defending Al Gore.

N
_______________
[* "Primary", broadcast 28Jan2000.]

© 2000 Peter Langston