Federal agents' visit was a hoax

The Standard Times ^ | December 24, 2005 | Aaron Nicodemus

[atomic conspiracy]

'I wasn't involved in some partisan struggle to embarrass the Bush administration, I just wanted the truth,' he said.

Yeah, right. I don't believe for a minute that a couple of Dartmouth professors would be ignorant enough of the history of Mao's Little Red Book to even suspect that it was on some kind of government watch list.
Millions of these have been distributed in the U.S., practically every library and bookstore in the country is likely to have multiple copies, and it is required reading in institutions ranging from Cal-Berkeley to the Army War College.
If a request for it brought a visit from Homeland Security, the agents would have time for little else and we would see hundreds of these visits a day.

[Jim Noble]

The story of a college student being questioned for requesting a 40-year old book on Communism fed right into that atmosphere.

There's a sucker born every minute, but I mean, really.

I owned the Little Red Book in 1969, bought it through the mail, and nobody gave a damn.

Now, with Mao's heirs turning out Barbies and Disney trash until their fingers bleed, so what?

Who was this Mao guy, anyway? I thought that was something you put on a sandwich? /s

[Bean Counter]

Does anyone know his DU username? This reads like something straight out of the DUmp...

[thoughtomator]

Anyone familiar with DHS knows that they don't have their act together enough to do something like this. DHS agents are lucky if they don't miss the toilet in the morning.

[JustDoItAlways]

The problem is if the students had not made their story so ridiculous at the end, the Left would have added this their lore of urban myths and it would continue to quoted as fact for years to come.

Visit DU for awhile and you will see dozens of examples of "facts" like this that someone just made up.

Some agency needs to become a recognized fact-checker to kill these myths before more DU'ers end up with even more psychological problems.

[wildbill]

On the first post about this story I pointed out that even my 'country' university had copies of Mao's entire works in its rather limited library available to students.

Surely an Ivy League university with a substantial endowment and large library would also have them without the need for an inter-library loan.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

This story was laughed off in the first ten minutes it was reported on FR. We really didn't need this turkey's confession.

[atomic conspiracy]

I am really wondering if the "student" exists at all. Nobody knows who he is, no reporter has spoken to him, and we only have the professor's word for it that there is such a student.

[Fruitbat]

What else is new! 90% of liberal "facts" are concocted/fabricated. This kid was just taking up the colors of his idols.

[aculeus]

A dead news day bump.

[Semper Paratus]

Had the student stuck to his original story, it might never have been proved false.

Blog Nation would have!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

It was. On this page. Last week.
There are no "Homeland Security" agents visiting anyone. The little red book can be found at any campus bookstore for $2.50 or less.

[CFC__VRWC]

He deserves congrats for that - it would have been easy to let the original story go and just hope it got forgotten.

True, but still I wonder how his editor dealt with it? I'll bet the original story was a big banner spash on the front page, and the confession that it was bogus merited two or three column inches in a tiny font buried at the bottom of the last page.

[ArmstedFragg]

"I can now tell my students that it is safe to do research without being monitored," he said

And what was he telling them before? I love this example of academia these days. The professor uncritically accepted the left-wing library records myth. Guess it fit his mind-set, so he didn't think he needed to figure out whether there was any truth to it before he started sharing it with his students.

Hey Prof!!! There's no monitoring... never has been... it's another one of those delusional Pelosi myths.

[solitas]

He is 22, and his name should be published as a public example of what happens to someone who lies to get attention.

What makes you think the student even exists? His name is never mentioned anywhere and it's just as easy to believe that the professor is making all this sh*t up from square-one.

[Bean Counter]

"Some agency needs to become a recognized fact-checker to kill these myths before more DU'ers end up with even more psychological problems."


Why??

There's little that is more satisfying on the internet, than watching heads explode in the DUmp over fantasies like this...

[ApplegateRanch]

No Exit (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-24-05 10:25 AM
Response to Reply #1
18. The real story is how totally BELIEVABLE it was.
I don't recall anyone even venturing to suggest "nah... that couldn't happen here". Nope. Not in Bushamerica--where any such atrocity is totally believable.

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Fake, but accurate defense. Predictable.

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Sydnie (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-24-05 11:29 AM
Response to Reply #9
19. I agree, there was no great outrage when the story first broke
No one was screaming that it couldn't be true. Everyone accepted it as truth because we have no belief that they still retain a boundry for what "crosses the line". We all believed it because it fit so perfectly with the current information that was coming out.

I am not sure that I still don't believe that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The professors that were told this story originally are not some kids themselves. These are teachers that have studied these situations and are considered scholars in this area. Remember, one of the professors said, in original article, that they were preparing to teach a class on terrorisim. They must understand the ramifications and importance of a story like this. If they fell for what this kid was saying in the beginning, he was either a very cool liar that lost his cool, or there must have been a great deal of believablity in what he originally told these professors.

I am not sure that THEY weren't visited as well, to be told to knock off supporting the story or face consequences themselves.

Fear can make people do and say some very strange things, on both sides of a story.

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WannaJumpMyScooter (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-24-05 02:58 AM
Response to Original message
12. It's okay folks... move along... nothing to see here
without a name, and some digging by someone with no axe to grind on the background... hint, hint, media, knock ,knock... anyone home?

I call shenanigins!

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When the conspiracy theory falls apart, it is "proof" that an even bigger conspiracy is at work!

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beam me up scottie (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-24-05 01:50 AM
Response to Original message
1. Great.
Just f*****g great. (Edited for posting on FR.)

The spin doctors are going to have a field day with this.

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bluestateguy (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-24-05 02:13 AM
Response to Original message
7. Swell. Michelle Malkin now has a week of new material to use.

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Charlie Brown (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-24-05 02:46 AM
Response to Original message
10. He needs to be suspended
He lied to administrators and wasted the university's time, and has now greatly embarrassed U-MASS.

He's also handed conservatives a ton of ammo at a very awkward time.

Send the little punk packing.

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Not, "what he did was wrong, because it is wrong"; but "what he did is wrong because he got caught & makes us look bad."

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Not, "what he did was wrong, because it is wrong"; but "what he did is wrong because he got caught & makes us look bad."

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BINGO! "It all depends on what the meaning of is, is"!
The truth can be whatever you want it to be, "we don't need no steenkin facts"!
It just tickles the crap out of me that "Ted, AKA, "The Swimmer" is dumb enough to have grabbed this hook, we need to set it, and drag his sorry butt up on the beach.