OK, I’m an evil person — and my scheming has paid off.
On Friday I started hearing from friends about a fake story making the rounds about my allegedly filing for personal bankruptcy; I even got asked about the story by a reporter from Russian television, who was very embarrassed when I told him it was fake. But I decided not to post anything about it; instead, I wanted to wait and see which right-wing media outlets would fall for the hoax.
And Breitbart.com came through!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go give a lavishly paid speech to Friends of Hamas.
Silly me…. I was taught to believe that fact-checking was a good thing, and yes, I swallowed that canard hook, line, and sinker. I had NO idea how much easier life can be when all you have to do is react with appropriate outrage when you run across a story on the Internet that SEEMS like it could be true. Never mind that it’s probably not factual; what matters is that it COULD be true. Therefore, it’s a matter worthy of outrage and self-righteous indignation…particularly if you’re an acolyte of the late Andrew Breitbart, one of the most pitiful wastes of humanity in modern history. Breitbart cared far less about the truth that he did for generating outrage and thereby attracting attention to himself. Ultimately, it was far less about the journalistic search for the truth than it was Breitbart’s never-ending drive to feed his massive, insatiable ego. He’s the reason for the term “Breitbarted,” but he also holds a “special” place in my heart, having once referred to me as a member of the Intellectual Elite (I never understood why that’s a bad thing?).
Breitbart’s death didn’t magically result in a new commitment to truth and accuracy among Right-wing media outlets. That was seldom more evident than when Paul Krugman was “Breitbarted,”, with predictably hilarious results. No, Krugman had never filed for bankruptcy (nor is he speaking to Friends of Hamas), but the Right-wing Outrage Generator has never let a little thing like the truth to stand in their way. In their defense, it’s tough to generate righteous outrage when you limit yourself to the facts of a story. No, Breitbart’s agry, attention-starved, ego-driven, self-righteous acolytes can only work their “magic” if they can make things up out of whole cloth…or source people who do. Hey, if someone else breaks a “story,” and it’s on the Internet…well, it must be true. Right??
Fortunately, these poor fools lack the self-awareness to recognize that they’re walking, talking exercises in self-parody…and for that I’m grateful. It’s good to be able to laugh now and again, even if it is at the expense of those who wouldn’t recognize the truth if it showed up with a tube of AstroGlide and a pair of kneepads.
