====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ======================================================================
Jim doesn't point out the (presumably obvious) conclusions from this story, but I will: the tendency of far too many people, not only in the corporate media whose role is promoting the interests of imperialism, but even people on the left, to believe stories which reinforce what they would like to believe for political reasons, despite a total lack of evidence. The Christian Science Monitor notes not only this example, but the "mass rape with viagra" claims in Libya: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/0613/The-Gay-Girl-in-Damascus-hoax-mass-rape-in-Libya-and-press-credulity As the author notes, the "substantiation" for this claim was the utterly preposterous assertion (without proof) by one woman (unidentified, and for all we know, she's as real as the Syrian lesbian) who "sent out 70,000 questionnaires and received 60,000 responses (!!!)" with 259 of them reporting rape by Libyan soldiers. And yet that "evidence" has been taken up by the ICC and the corporate media with a vengeance. Eli Stephens Left I on the News http://lefti.blogspot.com ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
