Monday, June 30, 2008

I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing...

Because I'm really a sensitive and considerate person at heart, I wouldn't normally pick on a random anonymous commenter like this, but I couldn't pass up this educational opportunity.

Here is what Mr. Anonymous wrote this morning, in response to the earlier post on NBC's To Catch A Predator:
"I believe I heard it on Glen Beck maybe not, that no convictions resulted from Catch a Preditor[sic]"
Stop and let this sink in for a second: This person typed in this factually incorrect comment while connected to the internet.

Now, yesterday morning, before I started putting the finishing touches on the post in question, I knew pretty much squat about the Murphy, TX/Louis Conradt flap. Thanks to the magic of Al Gore's intertubes, in about an hour I had read a 12 page Esquire magazine exposé, a half dozen news reports, a double handful of Wikipedia articles, and some assorted editorial columns and blog posts, as well as watching several YouTube clips of Dateline: To Catch A Predator, a show I had never actually seen on TeeWee.

If only there were some big network of information-filled computers to consult rather than relying on what one might or might not remember from listening to Glenn Beck...

So, Mr. Anonymous, whoever you are, I hope you take this in the spirit in which it was intended, for you have provided a valuable lesson for us all.
@

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:49 AM, June 30, 2008

    Man, I hope I never give you the opportunity to point that high powered snark at me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. doubletrouble10:13 AM, June 30, 2008

    Wow.
    It's hard to believe that someone would actually put something that's incorrect on the intertubes.
    The Goracle would be upset!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tam10:33 AM, June 30, 2008

    One of my favorite Bill Mauldin cartoons is the one with the mess sergeant holding a bayonet and a Garand, saying "I'll be damned. Did you know this can opener fits on the end of a rifle?"

    In the same vein, "I'll be damned. Did you know you can use this porn machine to look stuff up?"

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. José Giganté11:01 AM, June 30, 2008

    BUS
    Anonymous

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cowboy Blob11:30 AM, June 30, 2008

    Hey, careful spelling out Pr0n like that, it could result in thousands more hi -- uh, never mind.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous1:41 PM, June 30, 2008

    Surprised you didn't mention this:

    http://xkcd.com/386/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous2:04 PM, June 30, 2008

    You say you looked it up right?
    So were there convictions, or not?









    ;P

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tam5:19 PM, June 30, 2008

    Not out of the Murphy, TX episode, because the local chief borked things pretty good from the prosecution end.

    The show itself has resulted in something like 200.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:26 AM, July 01, 2008

    Wow. Armor-piercing snark. Poor guy never knew what hit him.

    ReplyDelete

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