Internet Trolls....now available in hardcover!
A few days ago the 24-hour mainstream news networks seem to have decided that it was the correct day to discuss the new Jerome Corsi book, The Obama Nation. Presumably, this was prompted by the near laughably warm reception Corsi received from Sean Hannity on his television and radio programs that day. I wonder if Sean Hannity ever realizes that his public persona is a caricature as ridiculous as that of Stephen Colbert.
Anyways, I found out quickly that the book was simply a political attack book, and found out that it had reached New York Times #1 bestseller status within two weeks of its release. At first, I assumed this was simply a sad reflection of the American appetite for sensationalism. But later, I learned that the New York Times was reporting "bulk sales" as a contributor to this apparent success. Without getting out my tinfoil hat, I think it's reasonable to believe that so-called right wing 'think tanks' are buying the book in large numbers simply to inflate the best-seller numbers. People are then susceptible to statements such as "...according to the #1 bestseller", and may confuse notability with creditability.
Obama has released his lengthy criticism, Unfit For Publication, in PDF format. Good for him. After Abigail let me read her copy of Al Franken's now-slightly-dated Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them), I realized what wimps the Democrats had been for letting people like Corsi and Hannity get away with their hateful attack politics. I'm glad to see that Obama won't necessarily stand for this kind of crap.
Unfortunately, the Wikipedia article for this book isn't fairing particularly well. When I first visited it last week, it seemed like an evenhanded discussion of the book's content, as well as some well cited criticism of its allegations. I was particularly impressed by the talk page where, although disputes had arisen, they had been discussed and resolved in a civilized manner. But now, not even a week later, the article is under protection because of edit warring. And the talk page is an unapproachable mess of the same tired allegations, over and over again, along with an alphabet soup of Wikipedia policy appeals (WP:RS, WP:BLP, WP:SOAP, etc...). I'm starting to believe that some people simply have an agenda, and aren't particularly interested in creating a neutral, accurate, freely-accessible reference work.
Anyone interested in an unbiased treatment of the subject is likely to be disappointed. And maybe that's the point. Maybe that's Corsi's real objective in publishing a book like this. An Orwellian attempt not to create debate, but to destroy it in a trivial shouting match of allegations. Corsi has stated that "voters can make up their own minds." I can't help but wonder if Corsi hopes that the electorate will do so in lieu of seeking out researched and established facts.
In addition to the points of ethics, pragmatism and basic courtesy that you brought up, I just wanted to point out that activities such as these may run afoul of anti-hacking laws in your jurisdiction.
Read all about it at:
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11470
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And one more thing, on a more personal note. Box of fail, whoever the fuck you are [but I think that you're probably LW or BS from BC and I totally love and respect you guys with all my heart (aka, this post and this comment are both completely in good fun), similar to your 'security audit'. I wont DDoS you if you don't me. Besides, your servers are probably bigger :)], don't think I didn't realize that you were a real person and try to attribute this to 'zombie PCs in consumer households'. I know damn well that NO COMPUTER IN EXISTENCE (except maybe Deep Thought) could crack my CAPTCHAo'DOOM(tm). Clearly you're ONE SINGLE pimply, unemployed, Star Trek fan living in your parents' basement. Leave my website alone, bitches!