Re: Sunday's LTAR

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

Joe R wrote:
>I've been meaning for a couple of days to get this off my chest.  On
>Sunday's LTAR, Donna made a couple of wisecracks of the "Al Gore invented
>the Internet" variety.  This is a perfect example of how a story takes on
>a life of its own, regardless of reality.

Umm, Auntie Donna pleads not guilty.  Bob and I had joked on several 
occasions about claims politicians make.  I was merely going along with the 
notion that making grandiose claims has become part of the 
landscape.  Someday, 100 years hence, a descendent of Mel Karmazin's will 
undoubtedly say that it was HIS influence that created the Telecom Act of 
1996, and who will be around to dispute that interpretation?

I saw the original statement from Gore and it didn't strike me as 
particularly outrageous.  He always HAS been a supporter of 
technology.  But, Joe is right-- rumour, legend, and hype (along with 
endless misquotes) cause people to believe that a famous person said 
something when in fact, they really said something entirely different, or 
never said it at all, ever.  The "Urban Legends" sites on the net are 
filled with stories of quotes celebrities allegedly made, when in fact the 
quote is totally fictional.  Case in point-- I know African-American 
students of mine who firmly believe that Tommy Hilfiger appeared on the 
Oprah Winfrey show and said he didn't want (insert the N word here) to wear 
his clothing.  I have a very religious Christian friend who truly believes 
the president of Proctor & Gambel appeared on a TV talk show (depends on 
which version you have heard-- Phil Donahue a few years back, or more 
recently, Rikki Lake) and explained that he was a member of the Church of 
Satan and would be donating a portion of his company's profits to the 
Church of Satan-- this alleged incident has been the cause of numerous 
boycotts of P&G by fundamentalist groups, all of whom quote the "fact" that 
they heard what this guy said on TV.  Trouble is, Tommy Hilfiger was never 
on Oprah, and the president of P&G has never been on any TV talk shows nor 
has he ever publically discussed what religion he is.  Yet, years 
of  "e-mail warnings" (and prior to that, faxed "alerts") have reinforced 
the belief that these things really happened, and no matter how many times 
the accused people come forward with documented proof that NO THEY NEVER 
SAID THAT, the myth re-surfaces again and again.  P.T. Barnum was right-- 
you can fool too many of the people too much of the time... or was it Mel 
Karmazin who said that... or was it Dan Rather.... or was 
it................................