[Ads-l] slander

[Jonathan Lighter]

Creationists have been using the "You don't know, you weren't there"
principle for years to blow Evolutionary Theory out of the water.

JL

On Thu, Nov 26, 2015 at 9:30 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: slander
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > On Nov 26, 2015, at 8:23 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> =
> wrote:
> >=20
> > 'To exploit cynically in words; insult through verbal cynicism.'
> >=20
> > Probably another ex. of the best word that would fit into a headline.
> >=20
> > Since the plaque claims to honor soldiers, it can't be "slanderous":
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> > Trump's Lies Slander Civil War Dead
> >=20
> > ...The New York Times reports that the outspoken Republican =
> candidate=E2=80=99s
> > golf course on Lowes Island, along the Potomac River in Virginia =
> includes a
> > historical marker that notes the following: =E2=80=9CMany great =
> American soldiers,
> > both of the North and South, died
> > at this spot ... The casualties were so great that the water turned =
> red and
> > thus became known as =E2=80=98The River of Blood.=E2=80=99=E2=80=9D No =
> date is given on the marker
> > as to when this engagement took place. No military units or commanding
> > officers are identified because, according to local historians, there =
> is no
> > evidence that anyone was killed in military combat at this spot during =
> the
> > Civil War.
> >=20
> >=20
> The story I found online--at=20
> =
> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/25/us/politics/in-renovation-of-golf-club-d=
> onald-trump-also-dressed-up-history.html,
> --does not contain a headline accusing Trump of slandering anyone, only =
> of "dressing up history", but it does suggest an interesting take on the =
> nature of historical research:
>
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
> In a phone interview, Mr. Trump called himself a =E2=80=9Ca big history =
> fan=E2=80=9D but deflected, played down and then simply disputed the =
> local historians=E2=80=99 assertions of historical fact.
> =E2=80=9CThat was a prime site for river crossings,=E2=80=9D Mr. Trump =
> said. =E2=80=9CSo, if people are crossing the river, and you happen to =
> be in a civil war, I would say that people were shot =E2=80=94 a lot of =
> them.=E2=80=9D  The club does indeed lie a stone=E2=80=99s throw from =
> Rowser=E2=80=99s Ford, where, as an official historical marker notes, =
> Gen. J. E. B. Stuart led 5,000 Confederate troops including cavalry =
> across the Potomac en route to the Battle of Gettysburg.
> Between the 14th hole and the 15th tee of one of the club=E2=80=99s two =
> courses, Mr. Trump installed a flagpole on a stone pedestal overlooking =
> the Potomac, to which he affixed a plaque purportedly marking =E2=80=9CThe=
>  River of Blood."
> But no one died in that crossing, historians said, or in any other =
> notable Civil War engagement on the spot.
>
> =E2=80=9CHow would they know that?=E2=80=9D Mr. Trump asked when told =
> that local historians had called his plaque a fiction. =E2=80=9CWere =
> they there?=E2=80=9D
>
> Mr. Trump repeatedly said that =E2=80=9Cnumerous historians=E2=80=9D had =
> told him that the golf club site was known as the River of Blood. But he =
> said he did not remember their names.
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>
> Presumably those "numerous historians" *were* there during the deadly =
> crossing.  After all, Trump has assured us that thousands of =
> Arab-Americans were cheering in New Jersey as the towers came down, even =
> though there is no other testimony or photographic evidence to support =
> this claim.  But he was there. =20
>
> LH
>
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