A Japanese blogger, reacting to all the hoo-ha about a "newly discovered photo," smelled a cable TV rat. What, another cable TV special with new and startling evidence?
A blurry photo, showing a woman from the back, was supposedly Earhart. Some "expert" or other, insisted that she and her co-pilot (a blurry face supposedly identified by the receding hairline) were in this picture.
They survived the crash! They were NOT taken prisoner! They...er, uh...just stayed on an obscure island till they died. Or something.
WHAT CENTURY ARE WE LIVING IN?
Isn't it a little tiresome how many gullible people swallow any crap 'n' pablum offered by ratings-hungry D-list cable TV channels and made-you-look banner-ad-happy "news" websites?
It's also pathetic that people have nothing better to do than obsess about distant past. It's supposed to be entertaining to create new conspiracy theories on the Lincoln assassination? To fret over whether Amelia survived the crash and for how long? Somebody wants to go digging up Dali's grave for a paternity suit? So much for "R.I.P."
Why didn't anyone over at the History Channel think to double-check Japanese archives, do a bit of Googling, or try to authenticate the photo?
For the same reason the London Daily Mail doesn't bother proofreading.
Who cares? It's all a momentary joke. The idea is to get attention, flash some advertising, and move on. Scholarship? What's THAT?
The sad truth is that even if there were people at the History Channel saying "This is gonna make us look stupid," they would've been ignored. In the greed of the moment, nobody wants to listen to those annoying twins Logic and Common Sense.
One of the good things about the Internet, is that it CAN often give you shortcuts to the truth. You can find archives. You can reach websites (even BLOGS) where people have posted their research and backed it up, sometimes with a bibliography and list of sources.
And yet, more often, you can check the Decider and BuzzFart and Newser and Puffington websites and truth is replaced by fiction and opinion. People on Twitter and Facebook would much rather share a doctored photo or a misquote (usually attributed to the wrong person) because "well, what do YOU care?"
Call yourself "The History Channel" and people think you're infallible.
After all, it SEEMS like a serious cable TV network. This special was NOT hosted by Piers Morgan.
I recall one MEME-loving moron on Facebook who posted one of those George Carlin quotes that isn't really George Carlin. (Weird Al sang about this kind of thing in "Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me.") I pointed out this was NOT a Carlin quote. The reply? "So what. I like it. What's the big deal? Why are you bothering me?"
I explained that Carlin himself had a page on his website where he posted the FAKE quotes. He did it because he was proud of his work, and did not want to take credit for sappy garbage or hacky jokes. Why people couldn't just send something around without putting his name or face on it, he couldn't figure. But it bothered him.
There was a time, centuries ago, when life involved the study and pursuit of "Truth and Beauty."
Today, the pursuit is in the exact opposite direction. The uglier and faker the better. Are aren't you Keeping up with the Kardashians?
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