Urban legend update: the 2008 election, republican decay and Hamline's Joe Olson

According to our site traffic software, we've been getting a large number of google hits over the past few days from readers who wonder whether Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning the 2008 Presidential election.

They click on our post from last April: Jackson County Pilot publishes urban legend--with a twist, which debunks a largely bogus mail cobbled together after the 2000 election. We cite the Urban Legend Reference site's effective take down of the numerous false claims and distortions in the erroneous epistle.

That so many people are researching this item made us think that some wise right-wing distortion artist has re-spun the urban legend, updating it to cover the 2008 election. After all: what tin-foil hat distortion artist could resist the heady mix of murder, inner city, welfare and the like being equated with the election of Chicago's Senator Obama?

So we did a little googling of our own, and while we haven't found the ur-source for this new version yet, we are seeing the urban legend walk again, purporting to describe the demographic differences between the geography of Obamaland and that of McCain Country. We find it peppered and posted all over, including the comment section of The Trail blog at the Washington Post.

Funny thing: the poster breathlessly reproduces the original 2000 election results; another commenter corrects them with the returns from this year. No one so far has challenged the malarky about "Alexander Tyler" or the opinions incorrectly attributed to Professor Olson at Hamline.

Other forums are not quite so sterling as those hosted by the Washington Post. In Car Dealer Forums, for instance, readers can learn about Some unreported stats about the 2008 election.  Of course, it's media bias causing that lack of reporting--though some posters are calling poor Joe Olson senile.

Will the differences in election results and other whoppers in the email deter those who want to believe the missive's dire warnings, prompting even a moment's hesitation before they hit the send button as they forward this to 143 of their closest friends?

We'd sooner bet on a revival of interest in 8-track tapes.  This re-invention of the earlier false urban legend is yet another terrific illustration of Stephen Colbert's definition of "truthiness," in which a perceived gut "truth" overrides facts. Urban legend? Who cares about falsehoods so long as a "value" close to the sender is being reinforced.

Coming to an inbox near you, soon.

Comments

[Phoenix Woman]

I visited that car dealer forum. "Hemline" University? Is that where you go to get a leg up on the competition? Or would that be skirting the bounds of propriety?