[BRIEF NOTE] The Power of Rumours
Apr. 6th, 2005 04:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldDoubtless people have heard about the ersatz scandal provoked by certain American bloggers who've violated the publication ban on recent testimony at the Adscan inquiry and revealed everything. (If you're curious to read, search instapundit.com with Google using "Gomery" as a keyword.)
I came late to this, partly because I've not been paying attention, partly because I'm jaded. I didn't know what the bloggers were saying, though I knew that they said that the scandal was enough to bring down the government. What I heard, from a source that I'll leave anonymous, was that the scandal involved certain parties smuggling drugs and making death threats.
I admit to being somewhat impressed by this, at the same time that I was rather horrified by the rumours. It would have been not quite up to the level of Italy's P2 or Tangentopoli scandals, but it would have been spectacular enough, especially from the Liberal Party. I mean, I knew that Chrétien choked a protester in Hull in 1995, but this would be beyond the pale.
As it turned out, checking what the blogger actually wrote, nothing of the kind was announced. I believe, though I'm not sure, that my source was conflating Myriam Bédard's allegations with still wilder unproven suggestions.
What does this mean? Factchecking is something that everyone should do, happily, for fear of otherwise being spectacularly and publically wrong.
I came late to this, partly because I've not been paying attention, partly because I'm jaded. I didn't know what the bloggers were saying, though I knew that they said that the scandal was enough to bring down the government. What I heard, from a source that I'll leave anonymous, was that the scandal involved certain parties smuggling drugs and making death threats.
I admit to being somewhat impressed by this, at the same time that I was rather horrified by the rumours. It would have been not quite up to the level of Italy's P2 or Tangentopoli scandals, but it would have been spectacular enough, especially from the Liberal Party. I mean, I knew that Chrétien choked a protester in Hull in 1995, but this would be beyond the pale.
As it turned out, checking what the blogger actually wrote, nothing of the kind was announced. I believe, though I'm not sure, that my source was conflating Myriam Bédard's allegations with still wilder unproven suggestions.
What does this mean? Factchecking is something that everyone should do, happily, for fear of otherwise being spectacularly and publically wrong.
