Danger on the edge of town: run in panic at the first sighting of an amoeba

[DFW]

I know, what the hell does this have to do with the primaries?

Well, this much, anyway: I have seen numerous rushes to quote stories
of questionable (being polite here) content bashing one or the other
of the candidates left in the running for the Democratic nomination.

My father was a well-respected journalist in Washington, and if there's
one thing I learned long ago, it's that a sensational story that is false will
show up on page one and be on everyone's mind, whereas when it gets debunked
as crap, it shows up in a tiny one-column story on page 32, and nobody cares.

It seems like there is a LOT of wishful thinking out there, people ready to believe
that their own preferred candidate is a saint in white robes, where the one they
don't prefer is the devil incarnate--any story that praises their favorite is true,
any story that flames the "other one" is true, no matter what the source, no matter
how little veracity is involved.

Ignorance is not a new phenomenon. My father didn't know whether to laugh or cry
back in the 60s about this (true) story: in North Carolina, a radio announcer, as a joke,
gave out an "alert" that an amoeba had been sighted in some part of town, and that
people should take appropriate precautions. A few minutes later, he said that another
amoeba had been sighted in another part of town, and it was likely that others were
in the area. The police telephone lines were jammed by frantic parents looking for
ways to get to their kids, and make sure they got protection. The radio guy got
suspended. His joke should have gotten laughs, probably did from 20% of his listeners.
Instead, people who had no idea what an amoeba was, and couldn't be bothered to look
it up, concocted up their own images of Jurassic Park on Main Street and went berserk.

I get the impression sometimes that certain partisan supporters (of whichever of the
two candidates) are very frightened by amoeba sightings.

[cbayer]

1. Excellent post, DFW

Should be read by everyone here. We just look foolish and lose all credibility when we jump up and down due to random amoeba sightings.

:hi:

[DFW]

2. I don't know about that.

There seem to be a lot of such sightings of late.............

[cliffordu]

3. OMFG Amoeba confabulation is SERIES!!!11!1!!!!

I ran right over an ameoba on my bicycle once. That'll put you in a world of hurt, pal.

[DFW]

5. Consider what it did to that poor amoeba...............

[cliffordu]

6. I still feel guilty. How do you get amoeba guts out of spandex??

[DFW]

7. I think my thread is deteriorating rapidly!

Oh, well, back to the fallout shelter............

P.S. to answer your question, VERRRRRRY carefully!

[cliffordu]

8. I like this thread a lot - I'm just trying to keep it kicked....

I was having fun, too....

:hi:

[DFW]

11. Card-carrying ASPCA member, here:

American Society for the Prevention of Crushing the Amoeba

[cbayer]

4. Kick because I can.

People are too busy killing each other off to read something that makes sense, but thanks for trying.

[hfojvt]

9. It used to be that was not true on DU

that an OP wailing about an amoeba sighting would be swarmed with skeptics and people posting links to better and more complete information. Now it is more of a partisan piling on, and I am not sure that posts within a thread get nearly as much attention as the OP.

[cbayer]

10. I don't think the contents of the OP get nearly as much attention as the title.

It's gotten past ridiculous. I am going sailing now.

[DFW]

12. You're right, of course.

The OP title should have read. "I hate Clinton/Obama worse than you do,
and I have a link to prove it!" Not my style, though.

May a fair wind fill your sails.