Flag Burning
SARASOTA, FL - In addition to the moronic Nixon-called-Gandhi-a-bad-name story that I wrote about at Memefirst, the AP wire on Tuesday ran a mind-bendingly stupid item about a flag burning incident. "Two Sarasota teens accused of burning six American flags have been charged with arson and manufacturing a firebomb," the article begins, breathlessly.
Somebody call the ACLU! Amnesty International! Sean Penn! Teenagers are being oppressed! The First Amendment right to burn things is being abridged!
Wait, hold on. 'Round about the third paragraph the AP provides this bit of insight into the charges: "They set fire to six flags Sunday and tried to firebomb a car, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said."
Ah. So these playful scamps of free speech were charged with arson and manufacturing a firebomb for committing arson and manufacturing a firebomb. They were not sent to the Gitmo Gulag for following Dennis Kucinich - as attractive a notion that might be for people on both sides of the aisle - but were instead sent to the county lockup for trying to blow up an automobile.
Isn't the Associated Press at least ostensibly supposed to report news, not invent it out of whole cloth?
Somebody call the ACLU! Amnesty International! Sean Penn! Teenagers are being oppressed! The First Amendment right to burn things is being abridged!
Wait, hold on. 'Round about the third paragraph the AP provides this bit of insight into the charges: "They set fire to six flags Sunday and tried to firebomb a car, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said."
Ah. So these playful scamps of free speech were charged with arson and manufacturing a firebomb for committing arson and manufacturing a firebomb. They were not sent to the Gitmo Gulag for following Dennis Kucinich - as attractive a notion that might be for people on both sides of the aisle - but were instead sent to the county lockup for trying to blow up an automobile.
Isn't the Associated Press at least ostensibly supposed to report news, not invent it out of whole cloth?
posted by Sterling at 12:23 AM
Comments:
Dude, chill. Take some crystal and chill out. It's only a 4-inch police story, not an essay in the National Review.
The flag burnings make the story interesting. Why? Because no ones burning flags except Jew-hating Palestinians and their American supporters, and AP's got no time for that.
If they hadn't set Betsy on fire, this wouldn't have moved on the national wire at all. So chill.
The flag burnings make the story interesting. Why? Because no ones burning flags except Jew-hating Palestinians and their American supporters, and AP's got no time for that.
If they hadn't set Betsy on fire, this wouldn't have moved on the national wire at all. So chill.
Sterling: did you promise that your particular brand of willful misapprehension would drive comment traffic? Well, right you are.
First, on the matter of hyperbole: the burying the lede charge you make about waiting until the 'third paragraph' omits in in your write up that the paragraphs are one sentence each.
Second, I don't know if you noticed, but the first para said they were charged with 'manufacturing a firebomb'. Until they use it, what else could they be charged with? Doesn't manufacturing a firebomb pretty much mean you inted to firebomb something? Even by your rather lax standard, this is toopid.
First, on the matter of hyperbole: the burying the lede charge you make about waiting until the 'third paragraph' omits in in your write up that the paragraphs are one sentence each.
Second, I don't know if you noticed, but the first para said they were charged with 'manufacturing a firebomb'. Until they use it, what else could they be charged with? Doesn't manufacturing a firebomb pretty much mean you inted to firebomb something? Even by your rather lax standard, this is toopid.
# posted by 
: 10:10 PM, June 29, 2005
: 10:10 PM, June 29, 2005
Sterling: did you promise that your particular brand of willful misapprehension would drive comment traffic? Well, right you are.
Yeah, I had get down on both knees before Krucoff to get this gig.
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Yeah, I had get down on both knees before Krucoff to get this gig.
