[Ads-l] slander

Thu Nov 26 16:09:12 UTC 2015

> On Nov 26, 2015, at 10:31 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> 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

Yes, but do they identify themselves as "big history fans"?  I guess, given his cheering-on-9/11 tales, the Donald can boast that his memory is so good he can even remember things that didn't happen, as well as infer things that must have.

LH
> 
> 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
>> =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nytimes.com_2015_11_25_us_politics_in-2Drenovation-2Dof-2Dgolf-2Dclub-2Dd-3D&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=2ElaQhy1vgQGlG9oMV-qMlofRLuPmLXqgpMzjGFCySc&s=QmFj8pFZWppCOCIBCObgH_rAznq40BWWmdeMdr9y-Z4&e= 
>> 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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>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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