No, Emergency Rooms Aren't Filling Up with People OD'ing on Horse Paste
By the time I learn enough about a breaking news story to realize I don’t care, it turns out to be bull$#!+ anyway
Over the weekend, there was another COVID-related hoax. This time it wasn’t about people supposedly eating fish-tank cleaner. It was about people supposedly overdosing on horse medicine.
It started with this Rolling Stone story:
Wow, that sounds shocking, doesn’t it? Can you believe those dumb hayseed Trump voters are choking down horse paste, instead of just getting vaccinated like a normal person? This outlandish story confirms my biases and obviously needs no corroborating details. If one single solitary doctor said this thing is true, then it must be true.
Except it’s not true. It’s not happening. It’s a hoax.
Here’s the “update” to the Rolling Stone story:
Whoops! Yeah, that’s a bit more than an update, isn’t it?
Update: Jussie Smollett made up the whole thing.
Update: Martians haven’t actually landed, and it was just a radio show.1
Update: Some kid thought it would be cool to work at Rolling Stone in the 21st Century, but it actually sucks.
Kyle Smith at NRO has an excellent question: “Why would Rolling Stone or Rachel Maddow or anyone else in the journalism game repeat a story about hospitals being overwhelmed with cases of ivermectin overdoses that doesn’t specify a single hospital so affected?”
The story was too good to check, so nobody did. People wanted to believe it, so they believed it. After all, it sounds like something that could happen. You know how those people are, in those square-shaped states in the middle of America.
Lots and lots of liberal bigots fell for it. As usual, the unstoppable Drew Holden has the receipts:
You’d think our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters at Rolling Stone would’ve learned their lesson after propagating that UVA gang-rape hoax back in 2014. That was a story based on the account of one person, and it went through layers of editors and fact-checkers without anybody noticing that the story didn’t add up. Now they’re at it again.2
And, also, in addition to that: You should get vaccinated. If you don’t want to get vaccinated, you should only take drugs prescribed by a doctor. An overwhelming majority of Americans are doing one or the other. There’s not a plague of horse-paste ODs, no matter what Rolling Stone and Rachel Maddow might claim.
A week ago you’d never heard of ivermectin, and a week from now you’ll have forgotten it exists. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: By the time I learn enough about a breaking news story to realize I don’t care, it turns out to be bull$#!+ anyway.
This all started when Joe Rogan got COVID and didn’t die even though he isn’t vaccinated, right? He said his doctor prescribed ivermectin, and then that instantly became “Joe Rogan takes horse medicine.” From there, it was a short trip to “People who probably listen to Joe Rogan are OD’ing on horse drugs.” It doesn’t need to be true, it just needs to make you feel superior to the people you hate.
Meanwhile, in the real world: Joe Biden’s Afghanistan debacle continues to piss me off.
It’s bad enough that we’ve still got Americans stranded over there, by Biden’s direct order. Now the State Department is actually preventing charter flights full of Americans from leaving Afghanistan.
And where’s Joe?
Joe went on vacation, and 99% of the media has gone back to covering for him.
Here’s how smart Biden’s enablers are:
If this were true, Biden would’ve already surrendered to them.
The Taliban are America’s new partners in peace, while Biden’s fellow Democrats are throwing the Taliban name around like a slur. It must be confusing, not knowing who the bad guys are from one minute to the next. No wonder libs are always so jumpy and angry.
Time’s up for Time’s Up. Has anybody done that headline yet? Probably.
Richard Spencer is back in the news because he sucks and everybody hates him. When he was a Trump voter, that meant he represented Trump voters. But now that he’s a Biden voter, that means… he still represents Trump voters. Funny how that’s always the way, every single time a Democrat is in power.
Michael K. Williams, R.I.P. He was best known as Omar on The Wire, of course, but in recent years my favorite role of his was Leonard Pine on Hap and Leonard. I read Savage Season by Joe Lansdale when it came out over 30(!) years ago, and in the subsequent series, Leonard quickly became one of my favorite characters in crime fiction. He’s a gay black Republican redneck from East Texas, and he will kick your ass if you have anything bad to say about him being a gay black Republican redneck from East Texas. Williams seemed like a poor fit for the role physically, being much smaller than the Leonard who’s described in the books. But Williams quickly won me over. He captured Leonard’s rebellious spirit perfectly, and he nailed the punchlines.
Williams died of a suspected heroin overdose, which is just sad. He had a lot of years ahead of him, but he threw it all away.
Don’t forget, Impeachment: American Crime Story premieres tonight! It looks like the most hilarious show of the year, and I can’t wait for all of the same stupid arguments to break out all over again. A dumbass hillbilly made it all the way to the White House and couldn’t keep his dick in his pants, and it’s still funny a quarter of a century later.
I wonder what Hillary will be drinking tonight?
There’s a lot I like about blogging — or newsletter writing, or whatever this is — but sometimes I wish I had a proofreader. I used to proofread for a living and I’m pretty good at it, and I scour over everything I publish to make it as clean as I can. But I’m only human, born to make mistakes.
Like this one last Friday:
Looking his watch.
LOOKING HIS WATCH.
A few minutes before noon that day, I changed “checking” to “looking” so I didn’t use “check” twice in a row, and I left out the “at.” I can’t even describe the panicked nausea I feel when I catch a mistake like this after I’ve published. In a headline. I immediately fixed it in the web version, but my heedless mistake will forever stain the newsletter that went out via e-mail.
Excuse me for a moment:
AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!
There, I’m all better now. That headline did not meet the standards of the Who the Hell Is Jim Treacher? newsletter, and I regret the error. If you didn’t even notice it until I mentioned it, bless you.
Thanks for reading. One of my wonderful subscribers recently asked if it’s possible to pay more than the suggested price of $5/month or $50/year. Absolutely! If you choose the Founding Member tier on the subscription page, the suggested price is $75, but you can put in any price you want. Here’s what that looks like:
If $75/year works for you, I’m very glad. But if it still seems too low for all this goodness you’re getting every day, you can go higher. I’ll trust your judgment.
And yes, I will be your friend! Unless you’re a jerk, in which case I’ll just take your money. And even if you’re a nice person, I will not help you move furniture, or drive you to the airport, or listen to your personal problems. I’ll be more of a friendly acquaintance, I suppose. Well, an acquaintance. Let’s not make a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be.
Apparently the mass hysteria over Orson Welles’ 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast never really happened, which makes it a hoax about a hoax.
I was going to suggest that Rolling Stone should go back to covering music, but music died the day Eddie Van Halen did.
A good tip if you don't have a proofreader is to read your writing out loud. I have caught a lot of things that way in my job.
Man's gotta have a code. RIP MKW. Thanks for the book recommendation I always like to find something new to read. Re: proofreading, I always get my spouse, mother or 16 year old daughter to proof read for me, they're always happy to point out my mistakes. So is the cat, but she's not a good enough reader.