UniteWomen's Facebook Propaganda Success!!!

You probably saw this all over Facebook on Sunday.

The problem: it is not TRUE!

UniteWomen.org's posted the above picture on Facebook Sunday with the comment "Please share with pride!"and before you could say "interweb" it was "shared" over 3,500 times and "liked" over 20,000 times. There's a big problem because it is not true! She did not make the 2012 Olympic Fencing Team. What is true was that she was the first openly Muslim woman to represent the US team in international competition. Now, what is interesting here: why did UniteWomen.org feel the need to exercise one the greatest pieces of successful propaganda on Facebook, and exponentially, the world wide web?

The organization put up a retraction of sorts on their Facebook page:

"We posted earlier that Ibtihaj Muhammad was the first Muslim woman to represent the United States at the olympics. She did not make the olympic team. We should all be proud of women attempting to break barriers. We are sorry for the incorrect information and thank those who brought the error to our attention.
We would like to take this opportunity though to point out that we are about uniting women. While many of us may not agree on everything, the vitriol and hate demonstrated in some of the posts will not be tolerated."

So, we are to believe that no one working for UniteWomen is able to conduct the simplest of searches? I don't believe that at all! Let's now look at the propaganda and how it relates to the original posting (which has not been taken down as of this time, by the way) and the retraction by UniteWomen.

My 1st Year Of Blogging - Here Are The Top 10

(photo by Tammy Harrel-Fraley)

As difficult as it is for me to contemplate, this marks my first year of blogging. After publishing some 60 posts, readers from all over the world have read enough of them for me to create a Top 10 list of blog posts. As I've said before, Americans love lists and nothing is better than reading lists than creating lists. I thought about creating my own personal Top 10 list, but I'll just stick with a list based on reader "views" with appropriate comments. Not surprisingly, the articles about conspiracies lead the way.

1. http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2011/11/jfk-conspiracy-proof-is-in-warren.html
"JFK CONSPIRACY-The Proof Is In The Warren Report" was one of two postings concerning the 48th anniversary of JFK's assassination. This one far outpaced the others on the list and is certainly in my personal top five.

2. http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2012/03/john-lennon-conspiracy-of-silence.html
"JOHN LENNON - A Conspiracy Of Silence" wherein I reprinted the original script for the documentary of the same name. Due to time limitations, the documentary was kept just under fifteen minutes, which meant some material was edited out. I felt some readers might enjoy the longer version and apparently they did. The article also includes a link to the video on You Tube.

3. http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2011/10/obama-extrajudicial-mass-murderer.html
"Obama: Extra Judicial Mass Murderer" was by far the most popular blog in terms of page views at the end of 2011. I'm pleased as I feel it is one of my best works.

4. http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2011/11/walter-cronkite-was-source-of-core-jfk.html
"Walter Cronkite Was The Source Of The Core 'JFK Conspiracies' came about after watching the original live broadcasts from CBS News on that fateful day in Dallas. I was amazed how many of the subsequent "theories" were originally reported as facts.

5. http://rod-harrel.blogspot.com/2011/08/presidents-who-owned-people.html
"Presidents Who Owned People" is still one of my personal favorites. Pictures and history! I got the idea after reading a well researched article about our Presidents.

THE PEDESTRIAN RIGHTS

WE do not own a car and we do not own a bicycle. Our primary mode of transportation is us, whether on foot, crutches or wheelchair.

THEREFORE, take heed of the following:

1. We rule the sidewalks.
Motorists yield to us. Motorists shall not block our sidewalks.
Bicyclists yield to us, we do not yield to bicyclists. Bicyclists must let us know when they are passing us from behind. Bicyclists shall not block our sidewalks.

2. We rule the crosswalks.
Motorists yield to us. Motorists shall not block our crosswalks.
Bicyclists yield to us. Bicyclists must let us know when they are passing us from behind. Bicyclists shall not block our crosswalks.

"Yep, I'm Heterosexual"

Now that Anderson Cooper has come out and "announced he's gay", the prevailing thought is that eventually someone's sexual orientation will no longer be a big deal. This may, partially, be true. In the fifteen years since Ellen DeGeneres announced she was gay with the famous "Yep, I'm Gay" Time magazine cover and subsequent episode of her then TV sitcom, celebrities and people in the public eye (as they say) announcing they are gay doesn't cause as much of ripple in the MSM as it use to.

(from the Hollywood Reporter)

On top of the prevailing thought about sexual orientation eventually becoming no big deal, the current thought that it is important for well known people to come out, can help shed light upon and hopefully see a reduction in the amount of bullying endured by gay school children.

Now I have something to write to you bigots out there. First of all, don't get all bent out of shape for being called a bigot. Look up the definition and you'll understand what I mean. Let's reverse this whole debate [which is nothing new] for second and I would like you to look into your heart and what you know is right by reading the following faux news report.

ROD HARREL SAYS, 'YEP, I'M HETEROSEXUAL'

Dateline - Portland, Oregon

(photo courtesy of some gay person)

In a stunning announcement sure to set no tongues wagging in the greater metro area, local punk, rabble-rouser, actor, writer and other hyphenates, Rod Harrel, announced via Twitter that he is "a happy heterosexual". "I'm quite happy being a heterosexual", said Mr. Harrel in a somewhat garbled telephone interview, "and I hope by coming forward I can help prevent the continued bullying suffered by heterosexual children in our schools."

When pressed about his bullying in school, Mr. Harrel replied, "I had a big nose and red hair as a kid. Might as well have been wearing a bulls eye on my nerdy jacket."