No matter what the illustrations I provide in a blognote, readers top it! Yesterday’s note discussed the silliness following Admiral Fallon’s resignation, especially the rumors of a US strike at Iran. In the comments Greg Lehmann provides a better instance of post-Fallon overheating by the major media: 6 Signs the U.S. May Be Headed for War in Iran“, US News and World Report (11 March 2008). The “six signs” are as follows:
- “Fallon’s resignation” — Of course.
- “Vice President Cheney’s peace trip” — Whether for war or peace, all travel by Cheney signals war to some folks! Also, peace trips by high US government officials are like trolleys, as they come along frequently. Not exactly a hot indicator of war.
- “Israeli airstrike on Syria” — Five month old news, so not exactly a Defcon 1 alert.
- “Warships off Lebanon” — US fleet movements are another standard element of the “about to bomb Iran” urban legends. US ships leave the Middle East (which means noting); US ships arrive … which means war!
- “Israeli comments: Israeli President Shimon Peres said earlier this month that Israel will not consider unilateral action to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. In the past, though, Israeli officials have quite consistently said they were prepared to act alone.” — Israel saying they will bomb Iran is evidence; so are statements that they will not bomb.
- “Israel’s war with Hezbollah: While this seems a bit old, Israel’s July 2006 war in Lebanon…” — Almost two years ago, and so of little relevance. Yes, this is odd to include in this list.
Sum total: almost nothing.
Please share your comments by posting below (brief and relevant, please), or email me at fabmaximus at hotmail dot com (note the spam-protected spelling).
Other posts in this series about the Internet: does it make us smarter or dumber?
- Will Israel commit suicide? More rumors of a strike at Iran. (22 December 2007)
- Three blind men examine the Iraq Elephant (6 February 2008)
- Cable Cut Fever grips the conspiracy-hungry fringes of the web (7 February 2008)
- Resolution of the Great Submarine Cable Crisis — and some lessons learned (8 February 2008)
- What do blogs do for America? (26 February)
- The oddity of reports about the Iraq War (13 March 2008)
- Will we bomb Iran, now that Admiral Fallon is gone? (17 March 2008)
- More post-Fallon overheating: “6 signs the US may be headed for war in Iran” (18 March 2008)
- Euphoria about the Bakken Formation (10 April 2008)
- The Internet makes us dumber: the Bakken euphoria, a case study (15 April 2008)
