The debunking/verifying of aggy-esque political urban legends/email chains

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

I received the email posted below from a fishing buddy of mine.  He is in his early 70's, a Vietnam vet, voted for Trump etc.

He is in the habit of forwarding these types of emails every few months.  We are all aware of the olds propensity to forward urban legend type email chains of all stripes, and while my friend is not as bad as some of my relatives, I feel like I should respond but I don't really want to do the research or end up being a dick about it.

So I am starting this thread for the surly time wasters to posts their own encounters and provide their debunking evidence-try to keep it in the political arena to remain relevant to the board.

The email below is obviously of the right wing variety but I am sure just as many are out there from the left-I guess.

As for the below email-without doing any research whatsoever, I am willing to bet most if not all of these stories are completely false and never happened and even if they did, some of the responses seem pretty stupid and kind of ass hole-ish.  This particular email made me think of the aggy "good sport" nonsense that spews forth on the regular.

So take break from the intense political scene and enjoy the low hanging fruit. Because facts matter.

These are good JFK'S  Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when  DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US  military out of France as soon as possible.  Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"  DeGaulle  did not respond. You  could have heard a pin drop. When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the  Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of  'empire building' by George Bush..  He answered by saying, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of  its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom  beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for  in return is enough to bury those that did not  return." You  could have heard a pin drop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers  were taking part, including French and American. During a break,  one of the French engineers came back into the room saying, "Have you  heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft  carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he  intend to do, bomb them?"  A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three  hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are  nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to  shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to  feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand  gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a  dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and  from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?" You  could have heard a pin drop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included  Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French  Navies At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large  group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries.  Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a  French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many  languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, "Why is it that  we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than  speaking French?"  Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's because the  Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't  have to speak German." You  could have heard a pin drop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ AND  THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE..  Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.  "You  have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked  sarcastically.  Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France  previously.  "Then  you should know enough to have your passport ready."  The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."  "Impossible..  Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France !"  The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he  quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in  1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen  to show a passport to."  You  could have heard a pin drop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If  you are proud to be an American, pass this on! If not, delete it. I am proud to be of this land, AMERICA

 

 

 

[jimmyjazz 45546]

Terrific layout.  Super readable.

[mdmost 42844]

The only pin I wished that person could hear drop is the one from the grenade that will be taking their life.

[FondrenRoad 4378]

All of them are most likely false. A D-day vet would have never said that shit himself.  However, a 30 year old aggy would for sure say something like "my grandpa didn't have to show a passport when he landed here on D-day."  And if I was a French customs officer, I'd reply "tell your grandfather he's always welcome here" as I deny aggy entry and put him on the next flight back.

Most of these just show how assholish Americans can/could even in stories we make up ourselves.  You never hear a made up story about some Frenchman telling an American "you'd still be British if it wasn't for us."

Edited July 5, 2018 by FondrenRoad

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

14 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Terrific layout.  Super readable.

Posted in that format for authenticity.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

I prefer those stories when the recipient of the sick burn runs away, like the professors Afghanistan and Iraq vets are always laying waste to in filthy liberal lecture halls all over America. 

[Annie 123]

14 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Terrific layout.  Super readable.

lol there's this magic button that people seem to miss "convert to normal text".

 

But maybe in the spirit of "e-mail chains" this should be

 

comic sans baby blue 18 pt triple spacing between paragraphs.💘

[Cheeseweasel 26437]

Needs more Albert Einstein. 

[RDCanecutter 26249]

I remember going to a "computer lab" to read these things when they were new.

[SizzleChest 8275]

[DaysOff 7851]

Terrific layout.  Super readable.

I guess your folks aren't elderly or they don't fwd:fwd:fwd emails to you because that's exactly what they look like.

[Brisketexan 104561]

I had a gun blow up on me when I was 16.  Took out some of my higher frequency hearing.  I probably can't hear a pin drop, even in a perfectly quiet room.

I thus feel quite left out by those anecdotes, and my feelings are very hurt.

[Blotto 23429]

My recommendation to the OP would be that any effort spent trying to convince the olds that their world view is incorrect would be better spent educating 18-30 year olds on the importance of voting.

 

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19331]

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Terrific layout.  Super readable.

to be fair, it looked much better in the faxed version I got in 1994. 

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

3 minutes ago, Blotto said:

My recommendation to the OP would be that any effort spent trying to convince the olds that their world view is incorrect would be better spent educating 18-30 year olds on the importance of voting.

 

 

I agree. I just want the olds to think about what they are forwarding before they do it.

[seven 1366]

www.snopes.com

[jimmyjazz 45546]

1 hour ago, DaysOff said:

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Terrific layout.  Super readable.

I guess your folks aren't elderly or they don't fwd:fwd:fwd emails to you because that's exactly what they look like.

Shit, I turned 55 on Tuesday.  I'm AARP all the way now.  I couldn't hardly read it.  Maybe my mind just hasn't quite atrophied enough yet.

[TwiceHorn 31265]

Check this shit.  A place all of these were posted, masquerading as a CNN site.  http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-760536

 

Edit:  apparently that is CNN, but some user-content section.  I'd never heard of it and it looks fishy as hell.

Edit2:  it also appears that the DeGaulle one is largely true, which isn't surprising because he was such a prick.

And happy birthday, old man (I'm right behind ya).

Edited July 5, 2018 by TwiceHorn

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

Just now, TwiceHorn said:

Check this shit.  A place all of these were posted, masquerading as a CNN site.  http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-760536

 

And happy birthday, old man (I'm right behind ya).

I saw that...and I turned 51 in January.

Here are a couple of clean links with actual debunking/editorializing going on, which of course, cite snopes etc.

http://www.eclectica.org/v14n4/dooley_salon.html

http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=4152 

[David Dennison 18652]

24 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Shit, I turned 55 on Tuesday.  I'm AARP all the way now.  I couldn't hardly read it.  Maybe my mind just hasn't quite atrophied enough yet.

Hell, you've been AARP eligible for five years.

[jimmyjazz 45546]

Just now, David Dennison said:

Hell, you've been AARP eligible for five years.

I know, I was just in denial.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I know, I was just in denial.

Hope you enjoyed Africa...

[TornACL 7675]

That's some grade A apocrypha.

[RDCanecutter 26249]

OP, make a phone call (talking, like an animal), and invite your geezer buddy to go shoot pool and drink beer.

That is what he is good at.