I have never in my life remember hearing so many false stories in one week’s time.
Here’s what I would like to do here: either post a rumor that you know to be untrue, or of you hear a story that seems suspicious, post it and maybe using our vast resources we can either confirm or deny the story.
Here’s some stories being passed around that are 100% UNTRUE:
**MAN TRAVELS DOWN 86 STORIES WHEN WTC COLLAPSES, MIRACULOUSLY SURVIVES WITH BROKEN LEG
FIREMEN RESCUED IN SUV UNDERNEATH WTC RUBBLE
FIVE FIREFIGHTERS FOUND IN AIR POCKET UNDERNEATH WTC RUBBLE
VIDEO OF PALESTINIANS CELEBRATING IN STREETS ACTUALLY FOOTAGE FROM 1991
ARAB-AMERICANS DANCING IN AMERICAN STREETS
ARAB-AMERICAN GAS STATION OWNER REFUSING SERVICE TO MOTORIST WITH AMERICAN FLAG
VARIOUS QUATRAINS SUPPOSEDLY WRITTEN BY NOSTRADAMUS
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED VIA SATELLITE
MORE THEN 4 PLANES WERE HIJACKED
CELEBRATING ARAB-AMERICAN DOCTORS ESCORTED TO IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS BY FBI
ARAB-AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS CHEER ATTACKS
**
These two were from the same story and I believe was reported on CNN and elsewhere. Thursday or Friday they rescued 5 firefighters who were fine from an SUV in the rubble. Where do you see that this was untrue ?
Some students, whether college or HS I don’t know, were reported by again the national news agencies as celebrating the attacks in NJ. I never heard a retraction to this and was pretty well glued to the tube and 'net Tuesday and Wednesday.
I checked the link and there was no mention of these ‘rumors’. Were these red herrings you put in ?
The story was misleading in the way it was reported. Some survivors of the WTC bombing and the buldings’ collapse were rescued within 24 hours of the disaster, but none since then. The five firefighters that were recovered later were working the disaster and were temporarily trapped due to shifting debris.
Rumors, semi-truths, and bad reported are common with major disasters.
Each of the towers had a gross weight of approximately 200,000 tons. Half of that weight is the superstructure – steel that tends to only twist and bend. The other half is concrete, glass, etc.
At floor 86 he would have had only 50 tons of debris overhead with half of that being the non-steel material that forms the deadly missles.
Late last week I watched an interview with a welder that had shown up to help with the rescue. Despite only 2 welders actively cutting steel and another half dozen acetylene torches lying about unused, he was told that he wouldn’t be allowed to help because FEMA was no longer running the recovery and he wasn’t in the right union.
I cannot imagine an event where someone survives a fall of nearly 1,000 feet by riding a debris wave of 150,000 tons of rubble while simultaneously avoiding a “shower” by another 50,000 tons of debris. (I can’t find a news site that documents any such survivor.)
If it’s true that someone was prevented from assisting in the rescue/recovery because of union membership then I truly am depressed.
None of the stories in the OP were posted as “red herrings”. I got debunks off the Net and also off radio shows.
The feedback is terrific. Maybe we can classify the fireman falling 86 stories as “unsubstaiated” but it is really, really hard to buy.
Here’s another one I want to throw out there:
My wife said she was told that a local university took down all the American flags around campus because some international students complained. I don’t want to mention the school; I’d like to smoke out if this story is being told anywhere else in the country, which would then almost certainly make it untrue. Sounds like a variation of the “evil Arab complains about the American flag being displayed” story.
While by now I’ve been shown enough sources to show that the gas price gouging story was true, I don’t believe it was widespread as it was made out to be. It sounds like something that took place in a couple places. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people tell me this story, all in different locations:
Small midwest town
Local gas station raises prices $5 gallon
Mayor is called
Mayor sends sherrif, who cites gas station owner for “price gouging”, which I’m not even sure a local official can do!
I heard a similar story being relayed as “fact” on one of the news reports. What I heard was that, at some school, a librarian was requesting that no students be allowed to wear “Proud To Be An American” t-shirts because it “offended” foreign students. :rolleyes: I would think that any variation of this sort is untrue.
The company is listed as National Council of Compensation Insurance. If true, I don’t think I would like to work for them, no matter what my nationality.
If it’s simply a matter of some union being snooty about its prerogatives, then of course it’s wrong.
But I’d recommend reading Cartooniverse’s thread on his experiences in the aftermath of the WTC collapse, before jumping to conclusions. There are lots of good reasons for making sure people aren’t let in to the site, willy-nilly. Anyone who is affected by this can say whatever they damned well please; we don’t know the truth of it. We’ve got the testimony of one upset individual, and that’s all.
Yes, the company with the ban on US Flags was here in this festering cesspool of ridiculous behavior, as is the story, also not a rumor, of the firefighters who would not board a Miami-Dade firetruck with the American Flag on it. They refused to board when a call came in until it was removed. It was removed in order to get them to get to the fire, and handled a few days later
Agreed. Several people that I know claim to have also seen the interview so I beileve that something transpired.
Regardless of the outcome, the man’s motivation, or the union’s alleged involvement, the problem goes right back to the OP – A story is told without adquate followup which, in turn, is fodder for rumor.
Small midwest town
Local gas station raises prices $5 gallon
Mayor is called
Mayor sends sherrif, who cites gas station owner for “price gouging”, which I’m not even sure a local official can do!
I say:
There is a mayor on record who, in a speech, tells the gas stations not to gouge customers. They should listen to him, for he is Rudolph Guliani.