Retraction

March 13, 2008
Shortly after posting one of today's stories, I realized that remarks attributed to a political figure were actually made by callers to the radio show in question.

I apologize for this mistake. The story has been removed and I'm glad we were able to correct the situation quickly.

-GP
Posted in

Comments

@Gameboy

Yeah, I missed it, too. So can anyone here tell me what this is all about, please?

@ Ebonheart

Thanks for clearing it up for me and Nekowolf. I kinda wish GP would fix the earlier post and re-post it so I could read for myself though... All well I can dream.

@ Sam

Thanks for holding onto that for us. Unlike Jabrwock, I think the comments were just sad, but to each his own.

@Ebonheart

"Peter acually was qouting an historical event."

Yep, Voltaire.

"In some cases I refuse to defend someone’s right to free speech when its blatantly racist and hate mongering."

Even the founders of the US constitution realized that there were limitations. Otherwise they would have put in stuff like "even if you are slandering, libeling, fraudulently representing yourself, or inciting riot". The trick is unless your speech is violating some criminal law, it's not supposed to be touched.
-- If your wiimote goes snicker-snack, check your wrist-strap...

@King of Fiji - Mr. Thompson, if you're reading this maybe you should make some retractions for the many lies you spread on a daily basis.

As you may know, Jack Thompson cannot be bothered with the opinions of the people he thinks aren't human. He's above it all. He doesn't lie. His words, thoughts, and actions lie!
/sarcasm
He wouldn't correct a mistake if he was paid money.

Nicely done. Keep up the good work in your blog.

Forgiven

Ah...I wondered where my comment had gone lol. Good catch.

you move quick, Dennis. gj.

Wow, that was quick.

What separates the true winners from the true losers? the ability to admit "I messed up, but I'm not going to hide it"

Still scary that people believe that kind of thing. That you can ball up a group of people and make the claim that they are all liars. I understand it was a caller, but doesn't some sort of hidden fact checker kick in and say "you know what, I don't see how this statement could possibly be true." The only way you could defend a statement like that is to defiine a liar as someone who has lied at some point in his life. I bet even Mother Teressa lied when she was three or four. I mean, I'm an awesome guy, handsome, young, rich, bowl 300 games regularly, but even I couldn't say that I've never lied. But to say that all Musslims are liars, you would have to have a screw loose. I just worry about a person who would call a show to make that kind os statement.

However, yikes. Now I'm kinda wishing I'd listened to the whole thing before my blood got boiled.

@ MOgbert

It is scary. It is even scarier when it happens close to home.

A few weeks back I had a "debate" with my cousin about Obama and everything she said was pretty much summed up in that retracted article.

Wow it must have been a fast retraction. I was away for like 30 minutes and all I see is this retraction headline.

So I take it, that some radio show was discussing Bilal's art project and the debacle that followed it? And apparently some listeners are morons who spout off at the mouth?

And this is why I love GP, a mistake happens it's admitted openly, honestly and immeditly once the mistake is caught. It's nice to see that there are still reporters there who care about truth than about the story.

@ Ebonheart

Actually, I would say it is nice to see a reported that cares about the truth AS MUCH AS the stories. He has to have a love of this to keep it going, and a respect for it (and all of us) to admit a mistake and fix it. I have enough trouble just keeping my own site running and updated with everything in my life, so I appreciate the work that much more.

sensationalism FTW, GP try and cut back on it alil its good for the diet ^_~

@ Nekowolf

THere was a comment that was extremly racist agianst muslims that was attributed to Mirch, apprently it was actually a caller, and so were a few other comments. Was retracted and I guess Dennis is fixing it before it's reposted.

Mistakes happen. The fact that Dennis took the time to apologize for the mistake is what makes GP so great.

Mr Thompson if your reading this maybe you should make some retractions for the many lies you spread on a daily basis.

I was really getting worried about the state of things when an elected official could say "I heard all muslims are liars and their mosques should be destroyed" and not be politically hanged.

I have a copy saved in my RSS feed. I pasted the quotes only, and re-attributed the source to "comment". This way at least everyone can get a kick out of what was said...

http://www.heyrenn.com/misc/gp-mirch.html

Al Roney: Do you want the Sanctuary for Independent Media to pull the plug like RPI did?

Mirch: No, I have no opinion on that.


...what a load of crap. I'm sure you shed tears, then, as you shut down the Sanctuary for 3 inches of door space, right?

btw, thank you very much, Sam!

@ Gameboy

Anytime, thankfully Sam has a copy saved so you can read what it said exactly.

Mistakes get made ,after all, no one is perfect.

Thanks Sam, even if with the comments re-attributed, it's a laugh. Human stupidity continues to amaze me on a daily basis...

Bob is such a liar, he claims he has no opinion on whether it should be shut down or not, but he is on the record stating that the Sanctuary should cancel the exhibit, and that he feels it's beyond the limits of what free speech should be. Sounds like he only holds an opinion when he's not being confronted directly.

Thanks for keeping that gem up, Sam, and boy what a diamond it is! For some reason, as I was reading it, Bill O'Reilly came to mind XD

No problem guys. Glad I could help :)

@ Jabrwock

As far as human stupidity goes, people prove there is no such thing as rock bottom. They may hit the bottom, but at that point they start digging.

@Gameboy

Gotta disagree with you there. There's a difference between going asking what Muslims think about your game (however misinformed your knowledge of the game is), and starting out your question by telling a story about how an "arab-Christian friend from the Middle East" told you all Muslims are liars. He might as well have just come out and insulted Balil right then and there, instead of hiding being "well someone else said it, not me".

I'm aware of how little regard arab-Christians have for Muslims (I know an arab-Christian myself), but jeeze.

Sorry if I came off as harsh there. I meant "disagree that the comments were sad". I found them incredibly assenine.

Heh, I read the original story, went to log in, came back to comment, and it was gone. Thanks for showing the kind of integrity that all gamers should have.

At any rate, no matter who said it, the reference to Bilal's piece as a "board game" makes me wonder if the people complaining about it are lumping it in with tabletop RPGs -- roll a 6, blow up the president. Talk about bonuses to initiative...
---
Fangamer

(Um, which is to say, not that anyone should have the initiative to murder somebody. Can I retract that last sentence?)
---
Fangamer

@ Simon

6? You missed big time, your shot whent wide to the left and hit a window. Also the secret service now know where you snipe nest is.

You needed to roll 6 20's in a row.

@ Jabrwock

No problem. Been posting here for a while, so I knew you wouldn't attack me over some minor thing like that. I think we both agree that the people who made those comments were ignorant (to me blatant ignorance and ignorance of your ignorance is sad/pathetic). You just laughed at them. That's the difference.

@ Simon Roberts

LOL! Oh my god. I would play that game! I don't even play table top RPGs, but that would be awesome. Er, wait a minute...

Yeah, the people commenting on his game didn't even seem to know what they were calling(?) in about. Its like going in for new tires and having the mechanic look under the hood.

@gameboy

"Yeah, the people commenting on his game didn’t even seem to know what they were calling(?) in about."

Welcome to talk radio. ;)
-- If your wiimote goes snicker-snack, check your wrist-strap...

I didn't see the originally before the retraction but after reading the quotes I have to say that alot of those people are so idiotic and closed minded that it sickens me.

To quote Peter Griffin on how I feel about the whole thing "I don't like what you have to say but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

@ Mrmoo

Peter acually was qouting an historical event. In some cases I refuse to defend someone's right to free speech when its blatantly racist and hate mongering.

@ King of Fiji

That would meant hat JT has to admit that he is actually wrong, and he is convinced that he can NEVER be wrong. Ergo, no retractions from him ever.

@ Jabrwock

Ahh thank you. I've never been able to remember his name.

Unfortunetly times have changed, it's now "I support freedom of [insert freedom here] unless I disagree there for you don't have the right."

thanks for all the nice comments. Your support means a lot. I'm just glad that I caught this myself and fixed it quickly. Lesson learned: listen to the entire program and not an excerpt!

@ GP

You would think that after years o reporting on pundits and bigots going on rants after hearing partial information, you would have learned that already. ;)

I am glad to see that you are willing to correct yourself. Keep up the good work.

What Was The Story?

@ GP - better watch out! Like the New York Times and the Cho-CounterStrike story, Jack Thompson will start using your retracted story as fact!

I retract my scumbag comment. My chills, however, remain.

Here's audio of the radio show. I didn't see the deleted post so I don't know if it had a link to the audio or just a transcript.
http://blip.tv/file/736718/
The audio is excerpts from the radio show so I don't know if it is representative of the callers or not but the callers in that audio clip are just sad.

I've tracked down the full audio of the radio show. It is available here:
http://www.wgy.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=al_rone...
they are listed as "Free Speech or Terrorism" parts 1-4

oops I mean 1-6 and there's another 2 parts on the topic as well. I've not listened to the whole thing so I don't know when the main people involved are on.
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