What Gates and Cosby didn't say

[ButterscotchCat]

I have been waiting since Saturday 5/23/2009 to post this "Snopes spotting". Chuck Thomas of the Ventura County Star wrote an editorial which includes many nods to Snopes. I have been checking the Star web-site and Chuck's internet link. No luck. I sent him an e-mail and here is his response. Hopefully, I will be able to actually link the article.

DEAR READER:
Here's the 5-23 column the way it appeared on screen. It looked slightly different in print, but read the same.
Thanks for caring and sharing.
CHUCK THOMAS

What Gates and Cosby didn't say
Snopes debunks phony 'rules' and other popular online myths

If it quacks like a duck, the old cliche tells us that it must be a duck -- but even if it sounds like Bill Gates, it may be a fellow named Charles J. Sykes.

That's what your old Uncle Chuckles learned the hard way -- (is there any easy way to learn anything?) -- by reprinting a list of "Rules Kids Won't Learn in School." It came to me touted as part of a graduation speech given by the maven of Microsoft, Bill Gates, but an e-mail pen pal identified only as Seavoyager suggested checking on Snopes.com to learn better.

If you're not familiar with Snopes, it's a Web site that's the self-appointed debunker of what most of us call "urban myths." Snopes actually bills itself as the "B.S. Detector Watch By Joey Skaggs."

Visiting the Web site is like touring a rumor factory with a thoroughly informed guide. There are the top 25 stories being debunked over the years and the Top Ten of the moment, plus a history of the Web site and a glossary of terms.

According to the Web site's autobiography, David Mikkelson created it in the 1980s, and in looking for something catchy, he settled on the name of the Snopes trilogy by Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Faulkner.

The main character of the clan, Flem Snopes, was the epitome of mendacity -- so much so that the term "Snopesism" is found in some dictionaries. The Faulkner volumes say, "The insidious horror of Snopesism is its lack of any kind of integrity."

Meanwhile, back at the speech that Bill Gates didn't make. . .

Snopes tracked it back to Charles J. Sykes, a columnist with the San Diego Tribune -- thereby confirming the urban myth that all wisdom originates in newspaper columns. In 1996, Sykes wrote a book, "Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write or Add."

The not-by-Bill Gates "rules" didn't appear as a list in that book, but did in a 2007 book by Sykes, "50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education."

You may recall that one of the rules Gates didn't recite was, "The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself."

With 50 rules in Sykes' later book, it's clear that so many wouldn't fit in a mere newspaper column. The list as attributed to Gates has either 11 or 14 rules, depending on which version is hijacked.

Urban fiction says Gates recited the list to a graduating class at Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia, CA -- my old home town. Snopes reports that officials at the school are as baffled as anyone, since Gates never made any such speech there.

Snopes speculates that the list may have been attributed to Gates because of Rule 11: "Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them."

Since some folks consider Gates "the ultimate successful nerd of all time," according to Snopes, that rule sounded like him to someone.

Gates did write a book, "Business@The Speed of Thought," but it didn't include the "graduation" rules.

Rule No. 1 on that list is, "Life it not fair. Get used to it."

President John Kennedy was quoted in 1962 as saying, "Life is unfair."
Almost a century before that, Oscar Wilde wrote, "Life is never fair."

Way before Wilde, that idea was probably first voiced by some cave man who told his mate, "It just ain't fair," after he clubbed a yummy beast for dinner, but some pterodactyl swooped down and carried it away.

Besides Gates, Snopes says the same advice has been credited to Kurt Vonnegut, and some of it has appeared repeatedly in the syndicated Ann Landers newspaper column -- without attribution.

"The prize for misattribution," according to Snopes, "has to go to the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, which printed the list twice in three weeks in mid 2000, the first time crediting it to 'Duluth State Rep. Brooks Coleman of Duluth,' and the second time to Bill Gates."

Another bogus item making the e-mail rounds -- two readers have sent it to me -- is Bill Cosby's "platform" in his write-in candidacy for president. It starts out:

"Press 1 for English is immediately banned. English is the official language; speak it or wait at the border until you can."

Another item: "All foreign aid using American taxpayer money will immediately cease, and the saved money will pay off the national debt and ultimately lower taxes."

Snopes publishes Cosby's own disclaimer from his Web site:

"I am not a write-in candidate for president. The platform attributed to me (and at various times to Robin Williams, Andy Rooney and George Carlin) does not represent my views and in many respects is abhorrent to me."

If you're a computer buff who likes to play Dotcom Roulette at Web sites on the Internet, you'll find some interesting window shopping on Snopes.com -- subtitled "Rumor Has It."

With Snopes busy debunking all these rumors making the rounds, that leaves just one question: Who's to take on the task of debunking Snopes?

Chuck Thomas is a Star columnist whose column appears on the Opinion pages each Saturday. His e-mail address is star4cthomas@earthlink.net

Yeah! I feel good. David has probably read this article already (as he is in my area) Hope to link the news paper article soon.

BSC

[snopes]

Snopes actually bills itself as the "B.S. Detector Watch By Joey Skaggs."

Umm, no. One of the advertisements that runs on our site is a banner ad for "B.S. Detector Watches" which are marketed and sold by Joey Skaggs.

[Simply Madeline]

Right now, snopes is actually billing itself as "Avoid Work From Home Scams".

[lord_feldon]

And "Dr Boyce on Bill Cosby." I didn't realize you had changed your name, snopes.

[ganzfeld]

Originally Posted by snopes

Umm, no. One of the advertisements that runs on our site is a banner ad for "B.S. Detector Watches" which are marketed and sold by Joey Skaggs.

Maybe it's like writing about correct grammar and you can't write about misattribution without making your own gaffes.

[ButterscotchCat]

Sorry,

Didn’t mean to create a forum to “pick apart” the article I posted. I was just jazzed that the old fart editorial writer for my local newspaper actually wrote about Snopes.com. Again, I am sorry if I have stepped upon anyone’s toes or sensibilities.

BSC, maybe I need a

[ganzfeld]

Originally Posted by ButterscotchCat

Again, I am sorry if I have stepped upon anyone’s toes or sensibilities.

Don't take it personally. We still love you.

[ButterscotchCat]

Originally Posted by ganzfeld

Don't take it personally. We still love you.

Thanks! I appreciate it.