The media, of course, had a feeding frenzy over the scandal, deploring the morals of young people, criticizing "pop culture" and blaming it on lack of church attendance or whatever. In their haste and enthusiasm to pillory and pontificate, they failed to do one thing: check out the story.
Finally the truth has come out. An article in the LA Times today has exposed the hoax. There was no pregnancy pact, no high-five celebrations, no "huge spike" in pregnancies at the school. The school Principal said he contacted the original source for the story, who refused to name his sources.
It is not hard to figure out why people do things like this…to further moralistic or religious agendas. The sad part is that reporters, writers, columnists, editors, and TV anchormen are happy to spread the manure, especially if it supports their agenda.
I am sure every Religious Right organization went into orbit when they heard about this. Let's hope they managed a safe landing in the Garden of Reality.
I have to admit…I love it when these people get egg on their face.
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Comments: 27
They do it for the points. lol
Where's the good stuff? Lead the way, my friend! I always follow.
You do look kind of hot with your disguise.
We could only hope for such a miracle.
But I could certainly be wrong.
Maybe it was just the craven journalists who will make a buck on any story whether it has an y basis in fact or not.
And I agree with Sam...don't hold your breath waiting for any retractions from the Religious Right.
That story just didn't smell right from the beginning, but that didn't stop professional moralizers on both sides from pontificating.
And Don...yours is sad but true too.
Thanks, Kathy for a good analysis of the problem. Everybody should go and read the page that you referenced.
Gary...you have nailed it. The media obsesses about stuff like this and ignores the BIG problems that our nation faces...like the WAR, like a half million homeless people on our streets, like 50 million people without health care. And lots more.
I just wanted to let you know that you are in the spotlight in the Tuesday Edition of Today On Gather. The Quotes that people have said about you are included. Congratulations!!
My son works for a major newspaper...on their web site, but he knows the people in the print end of the business. Reporter staffs have been cut to the bone, with major layoffs of senior people who are widely respected. The quality of news is going downhill fast, and that is bad news. Democratic societies (yes, I know we are a republic) don't function well without an informed electorate. We are getting less news and more slanted and biased propaganda, not just from newspapers. TV news is abominable! Network news is a joke, and of course Faux News is an obscene joke.
I was talking to a Franken campaign worker the other day and he told me the story of how Al's Wikipedia page was corrupted with misinformation by others from the opposing camp.
It is well known that an informed electorate is vital for a working democracy. The established media, as imperfect as it is, is our best hope at acquiring accurate information.
Aided by the ubiquitous Internet, misinformation is much more easily disseminated. Advertising revenues are shifting from the newspapers and other news outlets, budgets are being slashed and there are less reporting resources out in the field collecting information and checking stories and facts
Radio monopolies such as Clear Channel do not provide local reporting resources and local news is now harder to come by.
As we have all witnessed here on Gather, the Internet is another place where misinformation abounds, no sources provided, and with exposure to repetitive associations many untruths become reality for some people. The perfect example is the justification for the war in Iraq as the association was repeatedly made between Al-Qaeda and Iraq, weapons of mass destruction and Iraq, over and over again. These untruths went unchallenged by the media after the tragic events of 9/11. The Bush administration repeatedly associated criticism of the administration as unpatriotic bordering on treason.
We need a strong independent media, and all signs are that we are moving farther and farther away from this.
Support your public radio stations and buy some newspapers, and certainly don't believe everything you see and hear on the Internet.
I just received this from Team Franken's Andy Barr:
"Well, we knew that as soon as Norm Coleman started feeling the heat, he'd respond with the same old Washington smear politics.
"And, sure enough, he's back on the attack with a nasty new ad designed to distract from his awful record of selling out Minnesota families to George W. Bush and the special interests.
"So far, the press hasn't been any more impressed than we are. WCCO-TV said the ad takes "personal swipes;" the Star Tribune points out that it "doesn't address Franken's stands on issues;" and the St. Paul Pioneer Press blogged that Coleman's smear attack "exaggerates and misstate[s]" the facts.
Look, this is how these guys play. But the people of Minnesota aren't going to be distracted from the real issues, and neither are we. We're going to fight back – not by slinging mud of our own, but with a good old-fashioned dose of Al's favorite weapon, the truth."
Please see my article "The Karl Rove Con and How to Fight It" for 10 real-life examples demonstrating the nefarious tactics used by the Republican party to "win" elections.