Posted on 06/28/2008 7:01:21 AM PDT by SE Mom
The Washington Post has published an unintentionally amusing article this morning about one Danielle Allen, a "razor-sharp, 36-year-old political theorist" at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies. Allen, with doctorates from Cambridge and Harvard, won a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation genius grant a few years ago and now conducts studies at the Institute, where, according to the Post, "she works alongside groundbreaking physicists, mathematicians and social scientists. They don't have to teach, and they face no quotas on what they publish. Their only mandate is to work in the tradition of Einstein, wrestling with the most vexing problems in the universe."
And one of the most vexing problems in the universe, which Allen has decided to pursue in the tradition of Einstein, is the origin of a number of e-mails claiming that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Using the advanced research tools at her disposal, the razor-sharp Allen found…a couple of posters on the Free Republic website, plus a former political rival of Obama's who sends out zillions of e-mails to reporters every day.
The former political rival appears to have been completely open about the stuff he sent out, some of which was based on arguments similar to an op-ed that appeared in the pages of the New York Times. As for Free Republic, according to the Post, Allen "counted 23 freepers among those engaging in regular discussions about Obama's religion, and isolated a handful whom she began to suspect as having a role in the e-mail. Sifting through hundreds of postings, she began to piece together their identities."
Allen gave her information to the Post reporter, who used it to track down two allegedly offending freepers, one a 69-year-old retired grandfather in the suburbs of Boston and the other a 60-year-old schoolteacher in rural Washington state. Both said they had nothing to do with the emails. And that's about it.
But the article has a pretty clear subtext, and it is that the exchange of such information on the Internet should be controlled. "I started thinking, 'How does one stop it?'" Allen told the Post. "Citizens and political scientists must face the fact that the Internet has enabled a new form of political organization that is just as influential on local and national elections as unions and political action committees…This kind of misinformation campaign short-circuits judgment. It also aggressively disregards the fundamental principle of free societies that one be able to debate one's accusers."
Of course, we have laws that regulate the political activities of unions and political action committees. Is it going too far to guess that the scholar from the Institute for Advanced Studies might be searching for some way to do the same for Free Republic?
06/28 08:45 AM
Uh, it can be done. My sister used to post here regularly. She thought she was being careful never to reveal personal data, but she mentioned one little item, another one six months later, another one a year later, and with the help of the function that lets people see your posting history going back years, some weirdo managed to figure out who she was and where she lived. She got scared and stopped posting. With her encouragement I'm taking up the slack, but I'm more careful.
There are folks out there who hate us, folks. The internet is not a friendly place. It's filled with people like Danielle, who are so so so intelligent and use their intelligence to stifle speech they disagree with. Especially ours. How dare we question Obama's bona fides?
Neatly sums up what the libs want to do about Conservative blogs and news forums such as this one.
ping
Still, I assure you I was tracked just as certainly as the gang at the WarshPost should be tracked by DOJ.
I just went through all the links I could find to put me in contact with anyone of the folks at the Post or at the Institute so I could give them a comment or two ~ maybe about Miss Allen's sex life with other people's pets, or maybe something else, but certainly an idea or two about where they could put their mangled syntax and their LIES and DISTORTIONS.
Alas, you can't just send these pukes an email ~ mano y mano. No, you have to log onto their blog and give them certain personal information first ~ something not required on an open-air email system where I would be clearly identified and contactable.
So, not only are they all fascist pigs, including the little puke at the WarshPost, they are cowardly fascist pigs.
So, fascist pigs, come out in the open where we can comment on your proclivities up front, and in person.
Thank you, and BTTT!!!
"Sifting through hundreds of postings, she began to piece together their identities."
You mention your age one month, you mention where you live another month, you mentioned where you went to college a year before that, later you say what your job is, you mention that you are involved in the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus .... check, check, check ...... "Hello, Mr. Robert Kelly. Glad to hear that your son, George, is going to Notre Dame like you and your wife, Nancy, did."
BTW, to the degree the WarshPost was involved in this I'd suggest they are in violation of the agreement reached with them several years back.
Hey, don’t look at me.
God help the poor pukes who signed up to work for these guys. Once they are found out no reputable peer reviewed journal is going to publish any of their stuff.
It can & has been done my FRiend. A certain website used to do it all the time before it was shut down. The members of that site scattered and now infest other "so called" conservative sites. They "lurk" here constantly.
While this has certainly happened, it was soon discovered that the internet was being used in another way.
Large numbers of internet users were congregating at certain places on the internet where they could "hear what they want to hear". This is known as "collective self deception".
Any publicity is good publicity.
As for the ramifications, this is great for some FReeper work. Will be curious as to what Jim has to say.
It's kind of like St. Bernadettes, run by the RCs, attended by the Moslems and Hindus (who don't have visas).
All part of the Obamanites goal to intimidate everyone that disagrees with them. Stalin must be teary eyed in his grave....sniff sniff.
Stand tall FReepers and don't be intimidated. Bambi and his fascist supporters can go eff themselves. If they want a fight then so be it.
“I’m not sure I believe it — how sound is their methodology?”
As if we needed any further proof that, for the Left, ideology ALWAYS trumps methodology.
It’s important to keep asking these Obama supporters, “Explain why you claim that talking about the possibility that Obama was raised as a Muslim is a smear. Are you an anti-Muslim bigot?”...
Hey Allen! Baarack is a Mooselimb and loves sheep.
Obama a muslim? No way. He’s a satanist! (oops, maybe not much of a difference there, eh Dannielle?)
Large numbers of internet users were congregating at certain places on the internet where they could “hear what they want to hear”. This is known as “collective self deception”.
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