Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Woman's "feat" exposed

Oops, just a little bit of inconsistencies in a story that was meant to showcase women crowning achievement in sports. “First women to swim across the Atlantic”! Only one man has achieved this feat so far (with rest on accompanying oats every night), and already a woman is doing the same! Which means that woman is almost as good as man! Hooray gender equality!

It still remains wonder why many reputable news organizations did not bother to check facts before publishing the original story (which was exposed as a hoax today). I’d be curious to see why they omit to go through such a basic procedure as checking facts and doing some simple math. Is it because many news outlets didn’t dare to check or challenge “women’s achievement”, however it looked dubious? Or is it because they wanted to actively believe in such a story, immerse themselves in an euphoric moment in the history of women’s sport, even though they were somehow sensing that there was something wrong with the math?

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