Juggle.com examines how a Wired story started trending on Google as a “brain eating vaccine.” It’s interesting to see just how quickly a story can be misinterpreted and then taken on a left turn to Weirdsville – particularly when the inaccurate version of it supports someone’s rather odd fears. Jonah Lehrer, author of the original Wired story, responds here.
Also in conspiracy nut news, how about a little follow up from yesterday? Susan Greene at the Denver Post points out just how full of winners this year’s gubernatorial race is.
Turns out that Dan Maes stands behind his assertion that the red bike cooperative and Denver’s membership in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives are signs of a global conspiracy.
“This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms,” he said.
Most politicians seem to backpedal and distance themselves when someone points out how crazy they sound, but not Maes. I’m thinking he comes from the Michele Bachmann school of nutty politics. This is me, backing away slowly.
What scares me most about Maes’ bicycle theory is that voters may not see its “damfoolishness,” as H.L. Mencken would have called it.
“The central belief of every moron,” Mencken wrote in 1936, “is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights.”
Word.