http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m22057&l=i&size=1&hd=0 Exposing bullshit in internet time
Robert Jung, Electric Escape
March 29, 2006
I love this story as it combines three of my favorite things: the speed of the internet, the power of individuals working together, and exposing bullcrap from idiots.
Background: On Tuesday, March 28, San Diego Republican Howard Kaloogian posted the following photo and caption on his election campaign website:
Downtown Baghdad
We took this photo of dowtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it -- in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.
If that last sentence made you do a , you're not alone.
Intelligent folks on the internet (read: liberals ) collectively pooled their skepticism and wondered if the photo was a fake. Clues cited include the lack of Arabic on the signs, the bare-shouldered woman in the foreground, and a taxicab that didn't match Iraqi taxi colors.
After some virtual collaboration from eagle-eyed skeptics, the real location of the photograph was identified less than 24 hours later as Bakirkoy, Istanbul. Someone even took a photograph of the same intersection for comparison:
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