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Showing posts from August, 2005

Scam? Yo Momma!

Note: This was originally posted shortly after Jesse Lee Peterson's book was published, reposted in 2005, and now because of a fight between black customers and a Korean merchant in Dallas, Texas. Scam? Yo Momma! During the summer of 2002 I was an observer to a dispute between the Asian owners of a Chinese takeout and some of their black customers in Washington, D.C. The month-long boycott began when a local activist accused a cook at a Chinese takeout of attempting to cook a piece of chicken he had allegedly dropped on the floor. Despite the best efforts of human rights activist Dick Gregory, popular talk-show host Joe Madison, and Rev. Walter Fauntroy, the protestors were unable to coax any media to report on the protest. On some days there were, by my unofficial count, as many as 100 people chanting songs and marching. But one key person was missing: Rev. Jesse Jackson. It was important to the foot soldiers at the boycott that someone from the media report on
SOUTH KOREA VIDEO GAME DEATH STORY IS AN URBAN LEGEND!!! CREDIT CASEY LARTIGUE !!! Link to this post This not exactly the Drudge Report , I know. But here's another example of a non--journalist having to do the work of reporters, fact-checkers, and others in journalism. Back when I was a cub reporter on the Harvard Crimson, I was taught the journalist creed: "If your mother says she loves you, check it out." That is, always be suspicious of what you hear. Unfortunately, it is readers who must "check out" so much of what is reported. There's a story in the news about a South Korean man who alleged died while he was playing video games. The story looks a lot like a story from 2002 also about a South Korean man passing away while playing video games. Here's a version of the 2002 story : Game over - 86 nonstop hours later October 09 2002 at 10:53AM Seoul, South Korea - A 24-year-old South Korean man died after playing computer games nonstop for 86 hours, sai