How To Be A Hack

Learn from the master.

Step 1: Post a story which you claim supports your bias. In Figure 1, we have Tennessee Dim, the Instacracker, linking to a story reporting that Polish soldiers found 2003 model French missles in Iraq. Instapimp leaves out most of the paragraphs in which the French government denies the charge, although he does retain the denial reported in the second paragraph.

Step 2: Leap to a conclusion not supported by the story. Here, the Tennessee Hack concludes: "It's as if the French don't care about international law." But the story reports both the Polish allegation and the French denial. Which is correct? The story doesn't say, and the Cracker doesn't know, but he makes up his mind anyway.

Step 3: When forced to make a correction, misrepresent the facts. No surprise here, but the Cracker is wrong. In an "UPDATE" (not "Correction") to Figure 1, Reynolds states: "Here's a story saying that the Poles are wrong." But the story (Figure 2) actually says that the Poles admit they were wrong. That's not the same thing as "a story saying the Poles are wrong."

The story says:

Iwinski [an aide to the Polish Prime Minister] said the matter has been settled. "It was wrongly said that the rockets were produced in that year," Iwinski said by telephone from the summit. "President Chirac has accepted Prime Minister Leszek Miller's explanation."

The Poles did the honorable thing and admitted their error. The Professor refuses to do the same.