About Robert's resignation -- how rumors are created.

[Mass]

I find this story fascinating. So many people bought it without any confirmation.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/2good2btrue.html

2GOOD2BTrue

by digby


In case you were wondering about that Justice Roberts resignation rumor, here's what apparently happened:

Here’s an account of what went down in Professor Peter Tague’s criminal law class this morning, from a 1L at Georgetown Law:
Today’s class was partially on the validity of informants not explaining their sources. started off class at around 9 am EST by telling us not to tell anyone, but that we might find it interesting that tomorrow, Roberts would be announcing his retirement for health concerns. He refused to tell anyone how he knew. Then, at around 9:30, he let everyone in on the joke.
Note the timestamps on the Radar posts. The first one came out at 6:10 a.m., i.e., the Pacific Time equivalent of 9:10 a.m. Eastern time. The retraction came out at 6:36 a.m., i.e., the Pacific Time equivalent of 9:36 a.m. Eastern — shortly after Professor Tague let his class in on the joke.

A second Georgetown Law student confirms this account:

...
By then the horse was out of the barn — and running at a gallop:

Between the hour when the class began and when he revealed that he made it up, plenty of students txted and IM’ed their friends and family…. there’s a very good chance that the Roberts rumor that spread like wildfire on the internet was sparked by an eccentric law professor trying to make a point.

I'd say he made it.

Not that I haven't fallen for a few of these in my time. It's an occupational hazard. But if this one had been true, it would definitely have been worth waiting for.

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. I Heard they found a bunch of young boys locked up in Rush Limbaugh's basement yesterday

Geez, I hope that this rumor doesn't spread like wildfire.

[Bicoastal]

3. "Some people" are saying that this is a very important issue.

[Mass]

5. LOL. You may want to twit it. It may take.

[hlthe2b]

2. I certainly think those reading and re-posting on DU...

gave it appropriate skepticism... It was up and retracted within minutes.

[Mass]

4. I was not blaming DUers, just the twitter culture that takes anything twitted as true without

validation.

[CTyankee]

6. The professor made a very important point with his experiment.

This sort of thing can have very important consequences. Remember when Limbaugh talked on his show about Hillary Clinton's "safe house" and the "murder" of Vince Foster? The stock market DROPPED by several points right after Limbaugh's comment caught fire...

[Mass]

7. Definitively. Unfortunately, I dont think anybody heard the lesson.\nt

[CTyankee]

8. No, but it's amazing that this rumor got so far, so fast. nt

[ieoeja]

9. Which is why I don't get the "eccentric" comment.

Maybe he is an eccentric, but there was certainly nothing eccentric about this.

:shrug:

[CTyankee]

10. Maybe the eccentric part was just THINKING that Roberts would up and resign!

A young guy, top spot on the SCOTUS, it almost seems that the prof was trying to pick the LEAST likely Supreme Court justice to retire and see if people would "buy" the story. All the more reason for the prof to pick Roberts, IMO, in order to test gullibility at its very limits...