MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015

…So We’ll Let Our Other Readers Be The Judge

This morning, one of The Blower’s long-time Persons-of-Consequence e-mailed us some critical comments about one of the videos featured in Sunday’s Special “Weekend Video Review” E-dition.

Our Conservative Copy E-ditor called our attention to that Facebook classic purporting to show the Muslim world’s reaction to Obama’s latest speech on Climate Change where Muslim leaders were seen speaking in a language that was not English and had subtitles of what they were supposedly saying, and perish the thought, those subtitles even contained some very unflattering remarks about Obama.

Here’s how it happened

On 20 May 2015, the YouTube channel iPhone Conservative uploaded a video that combined portions of Obama’s commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a subtitled segment taken from an unidentified foreign talk show:

Obviously, the description of the video failed to note that the foreign language portion of the video was deliberately subtitled incorrectly for humorous effect. And without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it was impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone wouldn’t mistake for the real thing.

Unsurprisingly, many people were fooled by the video and believed it actually showed the “Muslim world’s reaction” to President Obama’s statement that climate change poses a serious threat to the United States, so on 22 May 2015, iPhone Conservative added a comment underneath the YouTube video to clarify that the subtitles did not provide an accurate translation of what they were attached to: Folks, this a spoof. It was never intended to be taken as a legitimate news report.

Everything our Conservative Copy E-ditor claims may have been correct, but The Blower had to ask him asked why he was even bothering to bring it up.

“That Video just wasn’t true,” our CCE explained, “and since The Blower only publishes the unvarnished truth, I just didn’t want any of your other Persons of Consequence NOT to doubt your credibility.”

Unfortunately, our CCE must’ve forgotten that at The Blower, things don’t always have to be “Absolutely True” to be “The Truth.”