"The Front Fell Off..."

I just received the following very funny video forwarded from a friend...it shows that even massive oil spills can be funny.



As I hope at least some of you suspect, this isn't real (the Senator not being named first aroused my suspicion...progressively more ridiculous answers raised it higher). It is the Australian comedy duo John Clarke and Bryan Dawe. This video is debunked on Snopes. Even more amazing, this comes from the early '90s, so it just shows that some old legends can find new life on the internet.

The person who initially forwarded this passed it on as a real interview. I can look at the chain of people it went through and I know several of them. They are smart people (maybe too trusting sometimes) who got taken in by this video as being the real thing.

This once again points out the problems with trusting the validity of forwarded emails. I haven't posted there in a long time, but it seems this problem is epidemic on the old JT site these days (if you have looked there recently, you know the posters I am talking about!) Although this particular email was not political in nature, it is important to apply the same level of critical thinking skills to political posts as it is to these fluffier emails.

It is easy to be skeptical of claims made by your political opponents. It is tougher, and even more important, to be just as skeptical of the claims politicians you support.