The "student visited by Feds because of Little Red Book" story was a lie

[kay1864]

(sorry for the late update, but I couldn't find reports of this hoax in the DU archives, and some might have missed the Real Story over the holidays)

UMass Student Admits Inventing ‘Little Red’ Tale
The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth student who said he was visited by federal agents after attempting to borrow Mao Tse-Tung’s “Little Red Book” through an interlibrary loan has admitted that his story was a fraud.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=510754

When a story is too good to be true
The story of the UMass Dartmouth undergrad who lied about being questioned by agents for the Department of Homeland Security had everything.
It played directly into the split between Red and Blue states. It was made for the Internet and Fox television and talk radio.
And it was timed perfectly because of the firestorm that erupted two weeks ago when The New York Times broke the news that the Bush administration had authorized federal agents to monitor the telephone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens calling abroad.
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-05/12-30-05/a14op769.htm

[quiet.american]

1. Good news/bad news

The good news is, it hasn't come to this yet. The bad news is, Bush has created such an environment of paranoia and limited civil freedoms in this country that the story, once unthinkable, was entirely believable.

[txindy]

2. Very old news

[kay1864]

3. Well, yeah...

That's why I said "sorry about the late update"

:eyes:

Also note that I could not find this "old news" in the DU archives. Only references to the original (untrue) story.

Maybe I wasn't searching on the right terms, who knows. I did three searches: "Dartmouth", "Little Red Book" and "UMass".

[txindy]

7. Old news as in already covered

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2005121

There are other threads, too, but that's enough.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. And therein lies the diference between us and the freepazoids

Now that we know it's false, we won't pass it around anymore.

RWers will pass stories they know are false if they think enough uninformed people will buy it.

[kay1864]

6. Ain't that the truth

Yesterday someone posted about receiving the "Oliver North installed his home security system to defend himself against Osama bin Laden" email.

And of course Madalyn Murray O'Hair is STILL trying to keep your Sunday preacher off the air... :rofl:

[tencats]

5. Was reported on here 12/24/05

Here it is.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2005121

[kay1864]

8. Good deal, thanks tencats!

Maybe I should post something about the John Bolton confirmation hearings now...did anything ever come of that? :+

Seriously, even My Favorite Columnist Molly Ivins posted the UMass story--and I missed the correction (and the DU post) over the holidays. Too much present-wrapping I guess...