Mary Mapes Names Names [tries to trash FreeRepublic]

INDC Journal ^ | 11/9/05 | Bill Ardolino

[shhrubbery!]

November 09, 2005

Mary Mapes Names Names ("Anonymous" Ones)

Posted by Bill

An excerpt from page 201 of her new book:

Within minutes of Buckhead's original posting, Freepers began to repeat and embellish Buckhead's thoughts. Not surprisingly, they all agreed with him, they all agreed with one another, and they all agreed this should be pursued aggressively. Freethinkers they are not. The Freepers and their lockstep like-minded fellow travelers moved as a group, like a school of sharks sweeping toward an unaware and unarmed victim. CBS was like some sunburned, overweight Florida tourist with a cut foot, floundering and flapping in the water alone in the surf. The Freepers swarmed CBS not because it was right or fair but because they could.

On Web sites such as Powerline, INDC Journal, Allahpundit, and Spacetownusa, the bravehearts of the blogging world worked anonymously in what appeared to be huge numbers, in unison, to destroy the Bush-Guard story, to uphold one another's wild and hateful claims, to outshout, outargue, and outblog anyone who dared to disagree. And on their Web sites there is no disagreement. They hate in unison, they speak with one angry voice, they each make themselves bigger by staying as close together as possible.

[chesley]

The more she talks the dumber she looks.

I don't know. I think she's pretty well flat-lined right now.

[woofie]

I actually have some shark jaws on my desk....

[sauropod]

School of sharks doing a "drunken blogging brawl (because that's what it was)" [from this morning's American Morning with O'Brien^2].

[jetson]

I am not an angry, communist, 'feminazi,' sicko, mean, pinko, shrieking nag witch.

Could have fooled me.

[rod1]

Well Mary seems to be enjoying her new dip in shark infested waters as she hawks the hack book.

The bottom line which she conveniently forgets to mention is that no amount of blogging could undermine a new story supported by facts and even a routine level of verification/documentaion.

On the other hand blogging including experts can undue an partisan heavy-handed lie.

[sausageseller]

Put the FR logo on them and award them to outstanding Freepers!

[F.J. Mitchell]

Forget the sharks. In the real world, the MSM and the liberals are a din of cobras-we are the mongoose.

[conservativecorner]

Only a complete jackass could defend the cBS debacle, but this is the state of the liberal MSM, and we can't expect any better treatment from them even when we catch them with their pants or skirts down.

[dirtboy]

Within minutes of Buckhead's original posting, Freepers began to repeat and embellish Buckhead's thoughts. Not surprisingly, they all agreed with him, they all agreed with one another, and they all agreed this should be pursued aggressively. Freethinkers they are not.

I see she did as much vetting of this opinion as she did of the TANG memos.

There were many opinions of the Guard memos posted on FR. Some held up to Freeper scrutiny (proportional spacing, TANG memo formatting), some did not (some typewriters back then could do superscripting).

But it is clear that we did vet the various theories in considerable detail. So, once again, Mapes is lying here.

[js1138]

In addition to ignoring the fact the the documents were frauds, Mapes lies about the behavior of FReepers. I was on those early threads urging caution, because I had actually used an IBM Composer in the early 70s, and I had see type balls with superscripts.

It actually took about 48 hours for all the coffin nails to get pounded into place, not the smallest of which was provided by the owner of a Composer who tried to duplicate the documents.

[Enterprise]

"In 1517, Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation by nailing a proclamation to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany."(link)

Mary Mapes is angry because Buckhead, and FreePers, carried out a Martin Luther moment against the MSM cloistered clique.

[gridlock]

And on their Web sites there is no disagreement. They hate in unison, they speak with one angry voice, they each make themselves bigger by staying as close together as possible.

Just a little peek into the mind of the kind of people who put together the MSM news.

Speaking for myself here (feel free to disagree!), I do not hate people, but I do hate lies. Generally speaking, I am not an angry person, but lies make me angry. And when I band together to fight for the right, I find no shame in that.

[photodawg]

I will grant her one thing - the "school of sharks" analogy is pretty accurate, though her description of a helpless victim (a multi-million dollar respected professional news organization) is a bit ... off. And let's not forget who chummed the water."

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I won't even grant her that. Sharks don't "school". They are powerful independent predators who love their unchallenged freedom and have a mean temper when aroused. This was no school of sheepish fish that attacked a bleeding CBS. The wounds were self inflicted and the Freeper "sharks" devoured the pray quickly and mercifully.
All of this begs the question. The only important issue in the Mapes story was the forged documents, a fact the Ms Mapes cannot escape no matter how she portrays the Bloggers that discovered the forgeries.

[shhrubbery!]

Yes, I remember that, thanks. On just about every post that gets more than a few replies, there's some contrarian view expressed here.

Clearly Mapes has taken only a grudging glance at FR -- just long enough to gather evidence for her prejudices. Anything that doesn't fit, she ignores. (Just like she did with her Bush-ANG fable.)

[advance_copy]

The funny part is that this old hag will spend the rest of her miserable life wallowing in bitterness. Everytime FReepers think about it, we smile.

[Tribune7]

Not surprisingly, they all agreed with him, they all agreed with one another, and they all agreed this should be pursued aggressively.

And they were right. The document that was the linchpin of her theory was impossible for it to be what Mary Mapes claimed.

Of course, there was another much bigger, much better sourced scandal she could have covered. You know, the one in which a presidential candidate confessed to actual war crimes while lying about war crimes committed by others

For some reason she chose not to. Oh well.

[andy58-in-nh]

[noDixieCan]

Mapes = irrelevant
Rather = inconsequential

[Lewite]

Reply to post 53

I would say you hit it on the nail somewhat. Also I am proud to be a Vet.

[School of Rational Thought]

Yes, you are correct. Subconciously, I may be associated her illness with the NYT out of habit.