Posted on 05/06/2006 7:36:46 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
On the wild and untamed Internet, he's an urban legend. But Joseph Olson wishes it would just go away.
The Hamline University law professor, has been tied the past few years to a cryptic analysis of the 2000 election that predicts a timely end to American democracy. It's an apocalyptic vision that's turned up in thousands of Internet blogs and message boards and resurfaced in recent weeks.
But it's false. Olson never wrote what's attributed to him. He doesn't know exactly how it happened. His only sin might have been passing on an e-mail with questionable information and somewhere someone tacked his name onto it. The result: He's revered and reviled in cyberspace for something he never wrote.
"You can't get rid of it. Anybody can send it out," said Olson, best known in the Twin Cities for his defense of gun ownership rights and Minnesota's conceal-and-carry gun law.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Uh oh...watch out, Don-o is coming for you!
He was kind of asking for it after creating this bogus site:
http://descy.50megs.com/mankato/mankato.html
This article reminds me of the recent Mark Styne expose of the repeated use of the sentence "Dissent is the greatest form of patriotism" or some such nonsense, falsely attributed to Thomas Jefferson and repeated by Leftists.
It also reminds me of the monumental June 2, 1998, address before the National Press Club by Matt Drudge (http://www.LibertyRoundTable.org/library/essay.drudge.html), in which he expertly exposed such as this in the national news media.
It ALSO reminds me of the way misinformation, once started, tends to be repeated over and over in textbooks. For example, someone many years ago stated in the medical literature that the best place to look for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the bacterium that causes tuberculosis) microscopically is at the periphery of the lesions. This is not true. The best place is in the center of the lesions, in the areas of caseous necrosis. However, this misinformation was repeated over and over again in medical textbooks.
We must always maintain a healthy skepticism about all information, regardless of its source. The most meticulous and truthful source can be mistaken.
Sorting through the garbage will be become increasingly difficult - and on top of that many people will have their heads filled with bad information. Info they believe is useful because, hey it was found online.
This book is a good read on the subject.
For fun, google your freeper codename.
Everything is now "findable".
Let's also not forget the favorite of the paleos around here who love to pound people over the head with Ben Franklin's "those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither liberty or security".
The real quote is: "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Makes quite a difference.
But before the Internet our "gate keeper" for all that is "fit to print" was the NY Times and other such paragons of "truth".
The internet is a great distiller of the truth to the discerning eye.
No, unfortunately, fame begins at 10,000,000 results. britney+spears nets about 42,000,000 hits.
in the eyes of the google "bots" you are.
I hate misquotes too, Tom. But somehow I kinda like the paraphrase better.
LOL. It sure makes making a point easier!
Related story: Full-up Google choking on web spam?
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