Is Social Media being used to spread misinformation?
September 28, 2007
On September 26th 2007 Rush Limbaugh had a conversation with a caller about “phony” soldiers. This call was referencing an earlier discussion about a specific “phony” soldier who was found to have forged his military records. This soldier claimed to be an Army Ranger who had served in Iraq and witnessed atrocities.
CALLER 2: No, it’s not, and what’s really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.
LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.
CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they’re willing to sacrifice for their country.
The phony soldier is none other than Jesse Macbeth, a darling of the anti-war movement.
Looking on Wikipedia (take it with a grain of salt) I found an interesting entry on the life and times of this particular phony soldier: Jesse Macbeth.
Jesse Adam Macbeth (b. Jesse Adam Al-Zaid,[1] in 1984) falsely claimed to be an Army Ranger and veteran of the Iraq War. He lied in alternative media interviews that he and his unit routinely committed war crimes in Iraq.[2][3] Macbeth began to attract significant attention after the release of a video containing his allegations;[4] transcripts of the video were made in English and Arabic.[5] According to the U.S. Army, there is no record of Macbeth being a Ranger,[6][7] or serving in a combat unit: he was discharged from the service after having been declared unfit or unsuitable for the Army, or both,[8] before he could complete basic training.[9]
Many anti-war websites immediately jumped on what Rush said and published his words out of context, making it appear that Rush was calling all soldiers who oppose the war phony soldiers. The reality is that Rush was only talking about one specific person who is indeed a phony soldier.
Media Matters published a story on this and it was quickly picked up and submitted to social media sites Digg and Propeller.
After reading some of the comments on both of these sites it has become apparent to me that many of the members of these sites (that leave comments) are letting themselves be swayed by careful editing and propaganda. There were some comments in Rush’s defense but most were quick to label Rush as a racist or propaganda man for the Bush administration.
I’ve been waiting for this gutless windbag to just say it in plain english…neocons don’t love the military and dont love America.I hope this video reaches the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan…maybe Rush wants to start a civil war within the military to rid itself of the “phony soldiers”.
“Phony soldiers”? Limbaugh go screw yourself. Those who only do the talking and not fighting are more likely the ones to be “phony soldiers”. Limbaugh I don’t see you drag your ***** ass out there. I bet you too the soldiers know a lot more than you do, asshole. It’s these stupid comments that just drives me crazy
I also saw one great comment on Digg from a user who not only gets it but tried to educate the diggers about the propaganda taking place:
I know it’s a waste of time to try and speak the inconvenient truths to the rabidly partisan and disinterested in contrary reality Diggers, but perhaps a few still capable of independent thought will take a moment to see how Media Matters is lying to them and how easy the Truth is to find if you’re willing to take two minutes to look for it.
Note that the MM piece cobbles together their claims by quoting a few of Limbaugh’s words at a time and gluing them together with THEIR interpolating phrases to give the appearance he is smearing the troops. At the bottom of the article, they quote a huge chunk of Limbaugh’s broadcast, BUT they don’t provide the link to the page where people could go and read THE WHOLE THING WHICH HAS SIX MORE PARAGRAPHS of exchanges, including these two:
=================
Here is a Morning Update that we did recently, talking about fake soldiers. This is a story of who the left props up as heroes. They have their celebrities and one of them was Army Ranger Jesse Macbeth. Now, he was a “corporal.” I say in quotes. Twenty-three years old. What made Jesse Macbeth a hero to the anti-war crowd wasn’t his Purple Heart; it wasn’t his being affiliated with post-traumatic stress disorder from tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. No. What made Jesse Macbeth, Army Ranger, a hero to the left was his courage, in their view, off the battlefield, without regard to consequences. He told the world the abuses he had witnessed in Iraq, American soldiers killing unarmed civilians, hundreds of men, women, even children. In one gruesome account, translated into Arabic and spread widely across the Internet, Army Ranger Jesse Macbeth describes the horrors this way: “We would burn their bodies. We would hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque.”
Now, recently, Jesse Macbeth, poster boy for the anti-war left, had his day in court. And you know what? He was sentenced to five months in jail and three years probation for falsifying a Department of Veterans Affairs claim and his Army discharge record. He was in the Army. Jesse Macbeth was in the Army, folks, briefly. Forty-four days before he washed out of boot camp. Jesse Macbeth isn’t an Army Ranger, never was. He isn’t a corporal, never was. He never won the Purple Heart, and he was never in combat to witness the horrors he claimed to have seen. You probably haven’t even heard about this. And, if you have, you haven’t heard much about it. This doesn’t fit the narrative and the template in the Drive-By Media and the Democrat Party as to who is a genuine war hero. Don’t look for any retractions, by the way. Not from the anti-war left, the anti-military Drive-By Media, or the Arabic websites that spread Jesse Macbeth’s lies about our troops, because the truth for the left is fiction that serves their purpose. They have to lie about such atrocities because they can’t find any that fit the template of the way they see the US military. In other words, for the American anti-war left, the greatest inconvenience they face is the truth.
===================
As you can NOW see, Limbaugh was referring to a genuinely fake soldier and provides the links to the stories backing his point. There have been several of these fake soldiers getting fawning coverage in the Treason Media, only to have to be disowned, but to Media Matters (But Truth Doesn’t), Limbaugh is just making stuff up and the rabid unhinged herds of Diggers who vomit canned anti-war, anti-Fox News, anti-Rush, anti-O’Reilly, anti-anything that’s not Ron Paul, Can’tMoveOn.Argh talking points or propaganda from the usual handful of George Soros-funded sites don’t care because facts don’t matter to them, just Digging their ignorant prejudices.
What’s most pitiful is that Diggers are constantly posting hyperbolic stories that claim to prove that there is a cover-up of the Truth, but their “proof” of the cover-ups is almost always based on lies and fantasies that are easily debunked by the REAL TRUTH. Ever notice how smart these useful idiots are? I mean, they can’t STFU for a moment about how on top of things they are when sensible, sane and actually-interested-in-Truth folks know they’re hopelessly ignorant and duped.
As of this posting the anti-Rush comments have far more Diggs than the ones that are trying to reveal the truth.
The heart of this story is the fact that Media Matters decided to take Rush’s words out of context and make it appear as if he were disparaging real soldiers when he was in fact exposing the anti-war movement’s use of phony soldiers to further their cause. Much like John Kerry’s famous speech before the US Senate on atrocities he claimed to have seen but did not, the anti-war movement is trying very hard to show a side of the war that is not real and has no qualms about using liars and “phony” soldiers to do so.
They are looking back at their victory during the days of the Vietnam War and they are trying to duplicate it. The problem they have is that the truth is out there and is exposing them for what they really are. Because they can not fight the facts they are doing everything they can to malign the truth speakers. Because they know a large number of impressionable youths use social media sites they are using these sites to spread their propaganda.
Will it work? So far it is working. Even scarier is that when some Democrats on Capital Hill were asked about Rush calling (all) anti-war soldiers “phony soldiers” they did not even question the validity of the statement but instead pounced on the man taking the claim as fact:
It minimizes the sacrifice our troops in Iraq and their families are making and has no place in the public discourse. Rush Limbaugh owes our military and their families an apology for his hurtful comments that minimize their service to our country.
- Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democrats’ campaigns for Congress
Someone should tell chicken-hawk Rush Limbaugh that the only phonies are those who choose not to serve and then criticize those who do. I served proudly, so did two of my fellow paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne who spoke out and died just weeks ago. Generations of American veterans have worn the uniform with pride and we know it is no contradiction to serve your country and still disagree with the Bush-civilian leadership that mismanaged this war.
- Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA)
See, it is not just the social media users who are being fooled here. Elected members of the US government are also believing what the anti-war movement is telling them without a hint of fact checking.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
If you use social media (or are a member of Congress) it is imperative that you not fall for the propaganda put forth online and pushed on social media sites. Instead you should do your own fact checking and think for yourself. Just think, if Dan Rather had done some fact checking rather than believe the story he was handed he would still have a job and not be suing his former bosses for millions of dollars.
Editor’s note: The original publication of this article had an improperly placed ending blockquote tag that gave the appearance of the caller naming Jesse Macbeth directly. We apologize for the error and it has been fixed
Written by Steve D · Filed Under Social Media
Good work bringing this to light. Though I’d caution against over reliance on the concept of “the REAL truth,” you’re certainly right to note when anyone is the victim of this sort of hatchet job.
On the other hand, you might ask yourself why people are so ready to believe the Mr. Limbaugh would say something like this. It’s because he has. He’s known for slandering people left and left. Unless you’re arguing that EVERY case of his shrill hypocrisy is some sort of misunderstanding, which I seriously doubt you are. He’s a professional bully, like O’Reilly and the rest of that right-wing lowest-common-denominator media crowd. The only catch here is that, like the rest of the chicken-hawks, he doesn’t respect the military enough to get near it himself. While it seems you are correct that his words didn’t reflect that, his behavior in life has demonstrated the point quite clearly.
MR Ryan.
I am retired military…and as a retired military member I am sick to death of hearing people say that someone cannot have respect for the military if they have never served. The fact is that respect for the military does not require service, it requires a recognition of what the members of the military do for the rest of us…myself included. I don’t require Rush Limbaugh to serve, I only require him to show respect to those who do. Unlike many of those Democrats quoted in this article who only respect the political advantage that they can acquire at the EXPENSE of those who serve, and who will lie at the first opportunity they are given that will allow them to gain that political advantage. This attitude is not just disrespect for the military, it is disrespect for all who live in this country.
christopher,
get a grip. Rush has done more for this country in exposing the truth, than you or anyone else you will ever know. I am a vet, proud to have served my country, have listened to rush for years as do MOST of the people in our military.
For some strange reason, ( speaking of personal experience ), you dont find very many democrats in a foxhole, would like to ask how many years you spent serving our country in ANY armed forces?
don’t be embarassed, i know you never did, thats ok, people like myself, will always go to serve our country, that way you still have the freedom to talk your bull.
have a nice day
Erin Madsen, chair-force, 27th Intel, Langley AFB, separated in ‘04.
I don’t care if you have or haven’t served. If you don’t read the news and don’t connect the dots and still haven’t realized that the “neocons” (including Rummy, Perle, Bush Jr., Wolfowitz, et al.) are rich upper-New England prep school windbags who combined the worst of liberalism with the worst of conservatism in a conspiracy to lie their worthless a**es off at every turn, to scam us away from our blood and treasure, to unite us against each other and introduce a state of global conflict over their dwindling energy reserves…if you can’t realize that, you’re a nimrod. And nimrods don’t get to be great Americans. That’s the god’s honest truth. Take a knee or go home. Some of us still want to live in a democracy.
ENTIRE TRANSCRIPT:
LIMBAUGH: Mike in Chicago, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER 1: Hi Rush, how you doing today?
LIMBAUGH: I’m fine sir, thank you.
CALLER 1: Good. Why is it that you always just accuse the Democrats of being against the war and suggest that there are absolutely no Republicans that could possibly be against the war?
LIMBAUGH: Well, who are these Republicans? I can think of Chuck Hagel, and I can think of Gordon Smith, two Republican senators, but they don’t want to lose the war like the Democrats do. I can’t think of — who are the Republicans in the anti-war movement?
CALLER 1: I’m just — I’m not talking about the senators. I’m talking about the general public — like you accuse the public of all the Democrats of being, you know, wanting to lose, but –
LIMBAUGH: Oh, come on! Here we go again. I uttered a truth, and you can’t handle it, so you gotta call here and change the subject. How come I’m not also hitting Republicans? I don’t know a single Republican or conservative, Mike, who wants to pull out of Iraq in defeat. The Democrats have made the last four years about that specifically.
CALLER 1: Well, I am a Republican, and I’ve listened to you for a long time, and you’re right on a lot of things, but I do believe that we should pull out of Iraq. I don’t think it’s winnable. And I’m not a Democrat, but I just — sometimes you’ve got to cut the losses.
LIMBAUGH: Well, you — you –
CALLER 1: I mean, sometimes you really gotta know when you’re wrong.
LIMBAUGH: Well, yeah, you do. I’m not wrong on this. The worst thing that can happen is losing this, flying out of there, waving the white flag. Do you have –
CALLER 1: Oh, I’m not saying that. I’m not saying anything like that, but, you know –
LIMBAUGH: Well, of course you are.
CALLER 1: No, I’m not.
LIMBAUGH: Bill, the truth is — the truth is the truth, Mike.
CALLER 1: We did what we were supposed to do, OK. We got rid of Saddam Hussein. We got rid of a lot of the terrorists. Let them run their country –
LIMBAUGH: Oh, good lord! Good lord.
[…]
CALLER 1: How long is it gonna — how long do you think we’re going to have to be there for them to take care of that?
LIMBAUGH: Mike –
CALLER 1: How long — you know — what is it?
LIMBAUGH: Mike –
CALLER 1: What is it?
LIMBAUGH: Mike, you can’t possibly be a Republican.
CALLER 1: I am.
LIMBAUGH: You are — you are –
CALLER 1: I am definitely a Republican.
LIMBAUGH: You can’t be a Republican. You are –
CALLER 1: Oh, I am definitely a Republican.
LIMBAUGH: You are tarnishing the reputation, ’cause you sound just like a Democrat.
CALLER 1: No, but –
LIMBAUGH: The answer to your question –
CALLER 1: — seriously, how long do we have to stay there –
LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes!
CALLER 1: — to win it? How long?
LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes! It is very serious.
CALLER 1: And that is what?
LIMBAUGH: This is the United States of America at war with Islamofascists. We stay as long — just like your job. You do everything you have to do, whatever it takes to get it done, if you take it seriously.
CALLER 1: So then you say we need to stay there forever –
LIMBAUGH: I — it won’t –
CALLER 1: — because that’s what it’ll take.
LIMBAUGH: No, Bill, or Mike — I’m sorry. I’m confusing you with the guy from Texas.
CALLER 1: See, I — I’ve used to be military, OK? And I am a Republican.
LIMBAUGH: Yeah. Yeah.
CALLER 1: And I do live [inaudible] but –
LIMBAUGH: Right. Right. Right, I know.
CALLER 1: — you know, really — I want you to be saying how long it’s gonna take.
LIMBAUGH: And I, by the way, used to walk on the moon!
CALLER 1: How long do we have to stay there?
LIMBAUGH: You’re not listening to what I say. You can’t possibly be a Republican. I’m answering every question. That’s not what you want to hear, so it’s not even penetrating your little wall of armor you’ve got built up.
[…]
LIMBAUGH: Another Mike, this one in Olympia, Washington. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER 2: Hi Rush, thanks for taking my call.
LIMBAUGH: You bet.
CALLER 2: I have a retort to Mike in Chicago, because I am a serving American military, in the Army. I’ve been serving for 14 years, very proudly.
LIMBAUGH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER 2: And, you know, I’m one of the few that joined the Army to serve my country, I’m proud to say, not for the money or anything like that. What I would like to retort to is that, if we pull — what these people don’t understand is if we pull out of Iraq right now, which is about impossible because of all the stuff that’s over there, it’d take us at least a year to pull everything back out of Iraq, then Iraq itself would collapse, and we’d have to go right back over there within a year or so. And –
LIMBAUGH: There’s a lot more than that that they don’t understand. They can’t even — if — the next guy that calls here, I’m gonna ask him: Why should we pull — what is the imperative for pulling out? What’s in it for the United States to pull out? They can’t — I don’t think they have an answer for that other than, “Well, we just gotta bring the troops home.”
CALLER 2: Yeah, and, you know what –
LIMBAUGH: “Save the — keep the troops safe” or whatever. I — it’s not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.
CALLER 2: No, it’s not, and what’s really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.
LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.
CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they’re willing to sacrifice for their country.
LIMBAUGH: They joined to be in Iraq. They joined –
CALLER 2: A lot of them — the new kids, yeah.
LIMBAUGH: Well, you know where you’re going these days, the last four years, if you signed up. The odds are you’re going there or Afghanistan or somewhere.
CALLER 2: Exactly, sir.
It’s interesting that your title, “Is social media being used to spread misinformation?” appears to apply to your own post. Rush Limbaugh apparently never even mentioned Jesse MacBeth on his broadcast that day until after he made his ‘phony soldiers’ comment. If you have evidence to the contrary, I’d like to see it; otherwise, I expect you to live up your own standards and retract your statements in this entry.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200709290002?f=i_latest
“…at no point during his September 26 radio show prior to making his ‘phony soldiers’ comment did Limbaugh refer to MacBeth, or indeed any specific soldiers whom he considered to be fake. One minute and 50 seconds after making his ‘phony soldiers’ comment, Limbaugh told listeners, ‘Here is a “Morning Update” that we did recently talking about fake soldiers. This is a story of who the left props up as heroes. And they have their celebrities. One of them was Jesse MacBeth.’ Limbaugh then read from a September 25 ‘Morning Update’ article posted on his website about MacBeth.”
There’s also the question of the fundamental meaning of Rush’s statement to deal with. You’d have to be deluding yourself to think that every soldier the media interviews who thinks we should leave Iraq is ‘phony’ in the same way Jesse Macbeth was. It’s just an easy lie given so that some folks don’t have to experience the cognitive dissonance of a soldier saying that any war has been badly waged and should end.
If you had any common sense at all you would go to Rush’s web site and check it out for yourself. I was listening to that very program and he did mention that slimeball phony soldier during that particular conversation. Don’t listen to the liberal propaganda!
Rush is constantly miss quoted by the media. They chop up his statements and create their own collage of words. I do not agree with his political philosophy but he does do a good ammount of fact checking before he runs off at the mouth. Which is more than can be said about most media outlets.
Social sites are often a pulse of the people. Now granted, the bulk of those people are sheep and will go along with anything that they percieve as beneficial to thier cause.
And who taught us that? TV.
You cannot get upset with people who use the very techniques that they have seen forever. Can you HONESTLY name one journalist that is actually non bias that has a job? You can’t. If you can then you apperantly will never understand what I’m about to say.
News used to be about non bias balenced reporting of the facts. I personally don’t give a crap what some other person thinks about the news. Just tell me the news and let me thing what I want. Now “Fair and Balenced” is just another gimmick. A shadow of what it once was.
Rush Limbaugh is at best no better than anyone else. So you will have to excuse me if I laugh at the fact that Rush was one of the reasons that the media is the way it is today. Rush created an idea of a conservative media outlet with his show amongst what he percieved as “liberal media” outlets that was actually just companies owned by people who were known to vote democrat.
Now, those media outlets ARE liberally biased because of him and style that Rush began and since Rush is off tv now there is Fox News. New but the same conservative biased news.
Where is the media outlet for me? it existed 30 years ago. I’ll be lucky to see it again.
So I think that it’s funny that the monster created by Rush is now biting him back. I hate the way media is now and it is all his fault. The truth used to be about the facts, now it’s a relative perception based on assumption and personal bias.
Live with it. What I’m writing is the truth.
A few points: yes, rush may have been referring to wacko ranger-wanna be; but, he has a long and distinguished history of going after the military as well, so it’s an HONEST mistake. Two, your petty ref to Dan Rather - he has every right to sue - the GOP / bushies have YET TO PROVE THAT HE EVEN FINISHED HIS NATIONAL GUARD SERVICE!!!
WHAT KIND OF WORLD DO WE LIVE IN WHEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA CAN HIDE HIS OWN SERVICE RECORD???
Kerry got swift-boated for his vietnam service; he was actually there.
Bush got out of vietnam for his NG service; odds are, he probably wasn’t there. If he was, why the big secret?
Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.
John Adams
Limbaugh says: if you talk to a real soldier, they want to be over in Iraq…
Context: This was on the tail of some REAL soldiers writing an OP Ed piece in the New York Times saying that the war was a mistake.
Limbaugh was referring to them too, when he talks about “real” soldiers wanting to be in Iraq…No, plenty of real soldiers realize this war is a joke and a private legacy for George Bush’s friends in oil and security companies (Blackwater).
If you listen to the entire thing, Rush sounds even worse than Media Matters says he does.
Ironic that Media matters posts pages of transcript, but you chop up Rush’s words here. You’re the one lying to make Rush look better. Shame on you.
Good point. Do you think perhaps, it is less of a vast left-wing conspiracy and more of people seeing a quote and getting pissed off? How many times do you comb through a story to fact check, usually you take it at its word. In fairness you should mention all the right wing propaganda that is based on direct, obvious, misquotes and funny editing (anything from ann coulter, the Al Gore “I invented the internet”, which he didn’t actually say, etc).
In the Dan Rather piece, no one has even tried to disprove the fact of George Bush’s national guard AWOL-ing. They attacked rather on the authenticity of a handful of papers. In truth yes, he should have checked them. In fact the story is true, and no one has been able to disprove it with evidence.
And just because it amuses me, i’m going to do my best to directly quote someone “Fool me once shame on you…. fool me twice shame on…. shame on… not gonna, can’t get fooled again”
If Rush was talking about one specific individual, then why did he say “soliders” plural?
The caller says “these soldiers” — cleary he’s talking about more than oner person.
Rush responds, “the phony soliders” — clearly he’s talking about more than one person, too.
OK, so Rush wasn’t saying that ALL soldiers who oppose the war are phony, but it doesn’t sound like he was only referring to Macbeth either.
Who are the other phony soldiers that Rush is talking about?
Here, I’ll save you the trouble of actually READING Rush’s rebuttal:
“I was talking about a genuine phony soldier — and, by the way, Jesse MacBeth is not the only one. How about this guy Scott Thomas who was writing fraudulent, phony things in the New Republic about atrocities he saw that never happened? How about Jack Murtha blanketly accepting the notion that Marines in Haditha engaged in wanton murder of innocent children and civilians?” -Limbaugh
“On the other hand, you might ask yourself why people are so ready to believe the Mr. Limbaugh would say something like this. It’s because he has. He’s known for slandering people left and left. Unless you’re arguing that EVERY case of his shrill hypocrisy is some sort of misunderstanding, which I seriously doubt you are. He’s a professional bully, like O’Reilly and the rest of that right-wing lowest-common-denominator media crowd. The only catch here is that, like the rest of the chicken-hawks, he doesn’t respect the military enough to get near it himself. While it seems you are correct that his words didn’t reflect that, his behavior in life has demonstrated the point quite clearly.”
It’s easy to claim that he deserves it because he’s a shrill bully full of hypocrisy, but did you ever stop to think that you are the problem? You only know of him from stories you hear about him, such as THIS one. Oh, well, I guess this story is false but the other stories we hear from the same slanderers MUST be true, which prove him a bigot.
You are omitting the phone call that preceded the “phony soldiers” comment. A man, claiming to be a Republican and a veteran of the U.S. military, dared question Rush and his views on Iraq. Rush said “you can’t be a Republican” and stated he “sound(ed) like a Democrat. It was immediately following this call (after Rush cut him off) that the “phony soldiers” comment was made. Rush picked up a new caller and after the pleasantries were exchanged this was said;
RL: There’s a lot more than that that they don’t understand. They can’t even if the next guy that calls here, I’m gonna ask him: Why should we pull what is the imperative for pulling out? What’s in it for the United States to pull out? They can’t I don’t think they have an answer for that other than, “Well, we just gotta bring the troops home.”
caller: Yeah, and, you know what
RL: “Save the keep the troops safe” or whatever. I it’s not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.
caller: No, it’s not, and what’s really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.
RL: The phony soldiers.
caller: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they’re willing to sacrifice for their country.
Obviously this caller was rolled into a group with the other individual. To Rush no American soldier could possibly disagree with him and if they do disagree they must be “phony.” I am a proud veteran that served our country during the Gulf War. If they (liberals, Democrats anybody that disagrees with Rush) ask my opinion on Iraq I am a “phony” because I think pulling out is the only option left? Also the idea that keeping out troops safe is simply dismissed is even more disgusting. Every leader in every military unit is taught that you have to weigh the risks to the possible rewards and as someone that executes the orders you trust that your sacrifices will achieve a greater goal you may not be fully aware of. Daily the possible rewards in Iraq are becoming smaller and smaller… perhaps saving a couple of troops may outweigh those rewards?
Hi,
Listen to the broadcast or read the transcript of Rush’s purported ‘phony soldiers’ comment. Ignore Steve D., the spinmeister, and make your own decision.
It is time we start thinking for ourselves and not let Steve D. or Rush L. doing our thinking for us.
Hi,
Read the transcript or listent to the comment of Rush’s purported ‘phony soldier comment. Think for yourself people, don’t let Steve D. do it.
I knew something had to be up when I read those stories on Digg yesterday. The whole comment is completely out of character for Rush Limbaugh.
The whole affair bothers me immensely, mostly because of the sad realities of what he said in his rebuttal. People will hear what they want to hear, they simply aren’t interested in the truth. Months from now, when I’m having political discussions with people, they’re going to pull out this gem, and I’m going to have to roll my eyes and explain to them that this is simply propaganda.
And they STILL won’t believe me. True believer syndrome at its finest.
[…] did Rush Limbaugh actually say that or was it misinterpreted by us Diggers? X Men 3 ps2 cheat codesread more | digg story RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Cartoons Fans Lounge […]
So what I take from the transcript is that Limbaugh did exactly what he’s being accused of, and those folks who are defending him are full of crap…
Qouted from Jeff Russell “Hi,
Read the transcript or listent to the comment of Rush’s purported ‘phony soldier comment. Think for yourself people, don’t let Steve D. do it.”
How about not letting these people who have thier own motives tell you anything. Don’t listen to it, don’t read it, don’t even enable people like that.
Give me the facts and don’t tell me what you think because you are no better than me as far as thoughts are concerned.
This man has told so many lies, it doesn’t matter at this point.
In the 1930’s a priest called Father Caughlin had a Sunday night radio show that was similiar in content to Herr Limbaugh…it was lite Fascism for Amerika. The Pope heard some recordings of the show and sent his assistant to tell the priest, either he stopped the broadcasts or he left the priesthood. Father Caughlin left the broadcast.
Next time you listen to Herr Limbaugh substitute the phrase, “those
Liberals” for “those Jews” and you will get a new perspective on Herr Limbaugh.
Limbaugh edited his own transcript to make it look like he was just referring to one soldier as a “phony soldier”.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200709280009?f=h_top
So, no, the social networking sites are not spreading misinformation. Instead, Rush Limbaugh is.
Kudos to the author. This article clearly promotes critical thinking which should be used even when it makes an idiot like Rush Limbaugh look even more moronic than previously fathomed… Having said that, it is too bad then, that the author did no critical thinking of her/his own.
You see, what is claimed to have happened to Rush Limbaugh in this instance, he does to “liberals” daily… and even in this very case. Here, he uses Media Matters’ attacks on him to falsify the situation for his faithful listeners, to further reinforce their self destructive, dividing, paranoid, “us vs them” mental schema of our society.
Thanks author, for giving me a laugh. I suppose you could call this a recurring report. You’ve fallen victim to the same flaw you are trying to point out in the very same article you are trying to make the point in! ROFLMFAO!
[…] But did Rush Limbaugh actually say that or was it misinterpreted by us Diggers? wonder woman batgirlread more | digg […]
Social media can be used in many ways I write up about it everyday on http://www.whichwebsite.com
While Rush’s rebuttal is very convenient, it doesn’t make any sense. In the exchange Rush had with the caller, they were clearly referring to soldiers who don’t believe we should still be in Iraq. This fake soldier Rush was supposedly referring to was never mentioned during this show, and as a result I don’t believe him. Rush has a history of lying with a bit of indignation thrown in, and this is another great example to add to his record.
Also, don’t think I didn’t appreciate the irony of spreading misinformation in a post accusing others of spreading misinformation, that is classic.
[…] 30th, 2007 · No Comments I came across this article on digg.com, entitled “Is Social Media Being Used to Spread Misinformation?” The […]
[…] Is Social Media being used to spread misinformation? You decide. […]
The vocal uninformed, especially those making a living on the floors of the US Congress, are going to be publicly embarrassed day after day until we get too tired of this slander to listen or care. It’s a really weak but effective issue to unite the conservative base.
We don’t have to just sit around and complain about this crap. We can make a difference. Cancel the bastards, let them know we mean business.
http://boycottcable.wordpress.com/