[Rhodes22-list] "The Hook", sea stories, grains of salt , and Truth (Politics)

[Herb Parsons]

Ben,

I would agree with you were it not for the obvious bias demonstrated by 
much of the MSM. The 60 minutes escapade,  Photo-shopped magazine 
"photographs", and pawning Keith Oberman and Chris Matthews off as "news 
men" are prime examples of why the public has lost faith in the MSM. And 
those are just the glaring issues.

Though I would not give cart-blanche credence to ANY web site, there are 
many that I would depend on as long before I would count on televised 
news or even print media.

The times, they are a-changing.


Ben Cittadino wrote:
> Dear Rhodies;
>
> When I was in high school a classmate told me the story of "The Hook".  He
> knew it was absolutely true because it had happened to a friend of his
> cousin. It seems this teenaged couple found a secluded spot off the road to
> do what we used to call some "necking".  They were listening to the radio
> when they heard a report of an escaped mental patient, who was a notorious
> "lover's lane killer".  He could be identified by the hook that had replaced
> his right hand after a farm accident.  He was completely insane and the
> tales of his murderous ways were chilling.  The couple discounted the story,
> but something made them uneasy and they became so frightened that the young
> man quickly turned on the engine, threw the car into gear, and floored the
> accelerator to get back to the main road.  When they reached the young
> woman's  house they laughed about how silly they had been to get so
> frightened, but when the young man got out of the car and went around to
> open his girlfriend's door, he screamed in terror.  There, hanging from the
> handle ( car doors had handles then ) was
> The Hook, which had been ripped from the killer's arm just as he had been
> reaching for the door.  I believed the cautionary tale, until I heard the
> same story, with slight variations many times thereafter, and ultimated
> learned it was completely false.  It was an "urban legend", one of those
> tales of modern folklore that get repeated, and believed by those who tell
> them, but which have little or no basis in fact.
>
> When I was in the navy, the salty old Chiefs would pass time on the late
> night watches telling "absolutely true" sea stories, always in good faith,
> always with a straight face, but, almost always, not true.
>
> Much of the political discourse in our little cozy sailor's bar incorporates
> sources from the web.  Many posts are sprinkled with citations to
> "authorities" gleened from various web sites.  The purpose of this post is
> to gently and respectfully suggest to posters and readers alike, that just
> because something appears on the "internet" as fact, the source is not
> necessarily reliable.  In fact, those who complain about the main stream
> media ought, in my opinion, to consider that the main stream media became
> main stream precisely because they tried to adhere to generally accepted
> standards of journalistic practice.  They make mistakes, but not nearly so
> often as their "fringe" competitors.  
>
> So when I see some outrageous statement about one or the other candidate,
> that a poster claims has been "ignored by the MSM", I chuckle alittle, take
> a grain of salt or two, and think about "THE HOOK".
>
> best,
>
> Ben C. s/v susan kay highlands nj
>
> PS- Happy Birthday Brad! (I mean it. No kidding.)
>
>
>