In our age of the Internet, cheap digital video recorders, etc., it’s harder than it once was to enforce an “official” version of an event .… the un-airbrushed knowledge of which might embarrass some potentate.
Memory-tweakers keep trying, though. Including Winston-Smith wannabes at the Associated Press.
An example is President Obama’s appearance at a wind turbine plant, where he made a pitch for “energy independence,” a concept presidents have been pitching at us at least since the long gas lines of the 1970s. One concern of attendees was the latest bout of high gas prices, caused by inflationary pressures and uncertainty about the Middle East.
According to an early version of the AP’s report, “Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle. ‘If you’re complaining about the price of gas and you’re only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know,’ Obama said laughingly, ‘you might want to think about a trade-in.’” The passage downplays how jovially patronizing the president was even after it became clear that the questioner had ten kids to support.
Obama’s unscripted condescension toward a struggling plant worker is not so outrageous as the AP’s strange memory-hole behavior. The incident was later scrubbed from their report. But InstaPundit’s Glenn Reynolds saved a screenshot of the original passage. And there’s video.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
5 replies on “The AP’s Memory Hole”
It matters not who votes.
It matters who COUNTS the votes.
It matters not what happened.
It matters who “REPORTS” what happened.
George Orwell, we hardly knew ye.
For some, “1984” was a cautionary tale. For others, it’s a how-to guide.
Far too many folks ignore the warnings, so the tyrants win more than they lose.
Certainly, Drik. Fortunately, Orwell had no conception of America still being free and the technology Mr. Jacob is talking about in this article. Cameras everywhere, recording every event is helping us stay free. Use the internet as long as we can keep it free. Once the hammer (or “the boot on the neck”?) comes down on that, I believe America will really go into revolt.
“you might wanna think about a trade in”
“you might wanna think about trading in your paid-for antique for a $40,000 suicicybrid. And save on insurance since you won’t survive a crash in it.”
“Let them eat cake.”
Unfortunately for Americans, this is just part of AP’s SOP (standard operating procedure). I’m sure that they share the President’s condescending attitude toward the “masses”, especially those who are fruitful and multiply. Nevermind that some day those ten kids will help support Social Security and Medicare. Their “carbon footprint” is unaccetable to the elitist highbrows who dominate what is supposed to be an unbiased media establishment.