The Gay Bug Chasing Myth

And there were Iraqi terrorists on the 9/11 planes.

Somewhere in hell Josef Goebbels is quietly chuckling to himself.

 

I realize this wasn't really, entirely Drudge's fault. I'm just saying, to paraphrase what "The A-List" gossip site says about Ann Coulter - if Drudge says 2+2=4, check his math.

 

Actually, Dan, the fault here would lie entirely with Rolling Stone.

 

I have a more fundamental question: Why would anyone with a brain cite Rolling Stone as a source of credible information in the first place?

 

Wenner didn't force Hannity and Drudge to run with the story like Jesse Owens, though. I agree that RS should never have run such a mythical piece.

 

Force? No. But, if you print a story, you do want others to "spread the word" for you, so to speak, no?

All Rolling Stone's fault for printing the falsehoods.

 

Of course you blame RS's new editor for trying to make a news splash without doing any fact checking whatsoever, but also blame the people who repeated it ad nauseum without any other source because, quite frankly, the statistic sounds completely fabricated. Any reasonable, rational human being (let alone as a journalist) could hear that 25% figure and assume that it's a crock of shit. Gay men are not that different from the rest of the planet in their thinking, are they? Does anyone really believe that they are so ignorant and hate themselves so much that they want to catch an incurable and often deadly disease?

Oh wait, I guess that Drudge and Hannity do. They read that 25% number and assumed it's true because they probably see gay men as basically another species, incapable of reasonable thought. That's as much a story as RS printing this garbage.

 

Until of course Hannity and Drudge find out it's false and continue to run with it as though it's fact. Then it's their fault too.

 

For the record, Drudge has put up links to at least three stories refuting/bashing the Rolling Stone story.

 

Also for the record, he still has a link to the original story (which rs.com should have taken down when its veracity was called into question) and hasn't said or done any mea culpas with regards to his original above-the-fold style reporting of it when it broke.

 

gay bug chasers

 

You can't blame Drudge for having the original rs story up. He has a few other links that refute the story and people who read the truth are curious to see the original article.

Regarding Hannity running with the story. I can guarantee you that if a story popped up with false and negative information on christian
fundamentalists or gun owners, plenty of liberals would be doing the same thing as Hannity.

 

And right now Hannity would be crucifying them for it, calling them crazy scaremongers. Remember when the NY Times reported about 2 years ago that the North Pole icecap had melted for the first time in memory, lots of liberal sites repeated it, and then the NYT had to recant because cap melts happened every summer? Boy, the conservative commentators loved that story.

Everyone who jumped on that story should have admitted their mistake then, and Drudge & Hannity shouldn't ignore their stance on this now. Silence is deafening on matters such as this.

 

Just like people are crucifying Hannity on this website. So we can see there's partisanship on both sides. And both sides are quick to attack there enemies without waiting for all the facts.

 

Make you a deal. Post a link from Hannity's site retracting his original stance on this and I will admit that this isn't a 20-foot straw man in the middle of the room.

 

You couldn't be missing the point any more than you are right now. Hannity should go back to his listeners / viewers and tell them that nearly every quote in that article appears to have been fabricated. He is not obligated to apologize per se, but he is obligated as a journalist to set the record straight.

The "facts" are that the two primary experts listed in the story are saying that the author made everything up. Who are you going to believe: the people who work on AIDS issues for a living, or the freelancer whose last story was about a fire on a Navy ship?

It's not just RS's problem because people form public policy opinions on stuff like this. How many people heard Hannity's retelling of this fiction and thought to themselves that AIDS funding is a waste because the stupid fags are now begging to get infected?

 

And we often hear liberals apologizing when they're wrong. Come on, no one in politics ever apologizes for anything. If you think it's only the conservatives that do this then you're naive.

 

If you think Hannity is in politics and not the media then you are something other than naive.

By the way, I'm glad you've come around to the notion that it's ok to do something because "the liberals do it."

 

Hannity is in the media covering politics. Sorry if this really confused you. I'm sure you have a long and proud history of criticizing both sides, not just the conservatives. Its great that we have such honest and open-minded people like you on bigsoccer.

 

Drudge is a conservative. Why do people hold him to a "non-bias" journalistic standard?

 

While the 25% figure is ludicrous on its face, it isn't surprising to find that a disproportionate number in a persecuted group will act self-destructively.

 

I assume they all are lying or in error. The reporter got the figures wrong (whether intentionally or otherwise) and the researchers may be backpeddling as well now that the heat is on them. There's often a third answer to an either/or question.

 

gyas chase bizzugs?? damn they must really beeeeeeee smallllllllllllllll

 

Besides, he has a show where the objective is to have two sides go at it and he represents one side. Think of Crossfire on CNN but with a whimp left-winger. Sorry Colmes, but you are on that Fox show for a reason and it is not to be the main focus.

Haniity's radio show must have a different format, but I wouldn't know.

Ever watch the Flintstone Kids?


Sean (far left)


Freddie