Political discussions in the workplace - Part Two
The next thing that went around after the Ireland thing below was the letter about how Obama supposedly "snubbed the troops" for a photo-op while in Afghanistan. It was written by a reserve officer stationed over there who, contrary to his claims, was NOT present at Obama's arrival and so was in no position to give his claimed first-hand account. This letter was debunked almost immediately by the soldiers who WERE actually present and told the truth. It got circulated at work just a couple of days after the Ireland letter by a different guy, and I immediately banged out my repsonse. I had to rewrite my closing remark a couple of times to avoid a tone that clearly said "Fuck the fucking fuck off you fucking fuck," even if the words themselves didn't.
The co-worker introed the letter with the following -
Subject: From our friend who is serving in Afghanistan
Hi all FYI--for what freedom is worth.
I don't know each of your personal political convictions, and apologize if anyone finds this offensive. I thought it was important enough to share. This is Jeff's first hand view of Senator Obama.
What followed was the entirety of the letter as found at its documented debunking at snopes.com. My response is below -
"This is indeed extremely offensive - because it’s a flat-out despicable lie.
Captain Jeffrey S. Porter’s letter, quoted below, is nothing more or less than a ham-fisted political smear that is bereft of any factual content written by a man who was not even there. The Army itself has condemned it as false and inappropriate. A full account of the background on this, along with a sampling of writing from troops who WERE there are found at snopes.com at the link below -
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp
As you can see, Porter was forced to backpedal on this almost immediately. Unsurprisingly, the original letter continues to get circulated around - much like all of the paranoid delusional BS about how Obama is a “secret Muslim” - but the retraction is almost never seen. When Porter sent this out last month it was picked up by various blogs and talking heads who gleefully trumpeted its claims, in many cases continuing to after it had been shown to be false, with no subsequent acknowledgement of its proven falsehood. I’d like to say that I’m shocked, but this sort of thing has been par for the course for many years now.
If you don’t want to vote for Obama, then by all means don’t. If you disagree with his policies, feel free to say so. But it is not asking too much for a citizen to choose facts over lies, especially when those lies are so transparent and easily checked with a few seconds of research. Like this one.
(Eric Saveau)
Son and father of enlisted men of the United States Armed Forces."
And now, back to a relaxing weekend with TempleViper.
The co-worker introed the letter with the following -
Subject: From our friend who is serving in Afghanistan
Hi all FYI--for what freedom is worth.
I don't know each of your personal political convictions, and apologize if anyone finds this offensive. I thought it was important enough to share. This is Jeff's first hand view of Senator Obama.
What followed was the entirety of the letter as found at its documented debunking at snopes.com. My response is below -
"This is indeed extremely offensive - because it’s a flat-out despicable lie.
Captain Jeffrey S. Porter’s letter, quoted below, is nothing more or less than a ham-fisted political smear that is bereft of any factual content written by a man who was not even there. The Army itself has condemned it as false and inappropriate. A full account of the background on this, along with a sampling of writing from troops who WERE there are found at snopes.com at the link below -
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp
As you can see, Porter was forced to backpedal on this almost immediately. Unsurprisingly, the original letter continues to get circulated around - much like all of the paranoid delusional BS about how Obama is a “secret Muslim” - but the retraction is almost never seen. When Porter sent this out last month it was picked up by various blogs and talking heads who gleefully trumpeted its claims, in many cases continuing to after it had been shown to be false, with no subsequent acknowledgement of its proven falsehood. I’d like to say that I’m shocked, but this sort of thing has been par for the course for many years now.
If you don’t want to vote for Obama, then by all means don’t. If you disagree with his policies, feel free to say so. But it is not asking too much for a citizen to choose facts over lies, especially when those lies are so transparent and easily checked with a few seconds of research. Like this one.
(Eric Saveau)
Son and father of enlisted men of the United States Armed Forces."
And now, back to a relaxing weekend with TempleViper.