The Memey for “Worst Fact Check” goes to PolitiFact!
Some of you probably thought this award would go to the “debunking” of the CNN racist baby chyron, but that was too obvious, so instead I’m giving it to this March PolitiFact fact check that drinking fish-tank cleaner won't prevent COVID-19. A claim that virtually no one made. The only example they could find was an obscure local news headline from North Dakota, which didn't clarify the rather obvious fact that while chloroquine is an ingredient in fish tank cleaner, that doesn't mean you should ingest it. But no one was seriously suggesting substituting fish tank cleaner for prescription drugs.
And the cautionary tale of the man who died ingesting the fish tank cleaner was a...very fishy story. While police ultimately ruled the death an accident, friends reported the man as level headed and not prone to impulsivity, being a retired mechanical engineer with an extensive science background.
His wife, meanwhile, was described as "not well" by friends, and the marriage rocky and one-sided. She reportedly berated him in public constantly, destroyed his model airplane collection when he returned late for a meal, and was arrested for domestic assault when she swung a mounted birdhouse at him. The charges were later dropped when the husband testified on her behalf.
The wife had other red flags, like being on long-term disability from debilitating mental and physical health problems she claimed came from gender and age discrimination at her job at John Deere (she was in her 40s at the time). This followed another lawsuit against Cedar Valley Medical Clinic, when she was younger and claimed discrimination then for being a young girl. Her psychologist in the Deere trial claimed she had PTSD and was often angry and full of adrenaline.
This is the context to which the man, who was given the fish tank cleaner by his wife which contained 20X the treatment dose of chloroquine, should be viewed. At best, a questionable tragedy, and one that conveniently blamed Trump as the culprit for touting chloroquine. Which, of course, was the real reason for the fact check, like so many others. Not to debunk a real claim, but to dunk on Trump.
Runners-up in the comments.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/24/blog-posting/drinking-chloroquine-fish-tank-cleaner-wont-stop-c/
https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/death-of-arizona-man-from-chloroquine-ruled-an-accident/
Stay tuned for more Memey Awards, they run until the end of the year. For a complete list of the 2020 Memeys (updated in real time):
http://memepoliceman.com/the-2020-memeys/
So many of these right wing accounts are just whiners now, this is a diatribe about automatic sinks and towels, the horror! As I explained in a prior post, most of the newer terminals have great bathrooms, some now have completely private stalls and plenty of them. The worst and most crowded airport bathrooms are invariably found in aging terminals that are decades old. It’s a reminder that airports were usually drab and uncomfortable.
I think the heyday of the air hand-dryers was like 15-20 years ago, where often you couldn’t find real towels. Now you can at least usually get real paper towels in airport bathrooms. Remember those old cloth roller towels that would go in a loop and somehow “clean” themselves? Yuck! Public bathrooms have always been gross, it seems some are deliberately having selective memories.
Airport food and drinks were always expensive, but now practically everyone brings those huge cooler flasks with them and fills them up. So not sure what he means that ...
I first critiqued this terrible take by looking at how food has actually improved substantially. Even though I said the same could be done in every category, people said “you’re only doing food.” So let’s do air travel and see why it’s not gotten better, not worse.
▪️Aircraft have greatly improved. Just 15-20 years ago, many domestic routes (~15%) were flown by turboprops like the Brasilia, Dash 8 or Saab. Now, almost everything is in jets, and most aircraft have WiFi. Some even have Starlink, where you probably have faster WiFi than your home. Most major airlines offer dozens or hundreds of movies and shows to watch.
▪️Newer designs like the 787 have lower cabin altitudes and improved humidity, which make a huge difference in passenger comfort on long haul flights. The first/business class international market has gotten very competitive globally, with many carriers offering excellent service and amenities. Pods, suites, showers, etc. Coach still sucks but is dramatically cheaper ...
This is the complete opposite of an empirical fact. The right has now joined the left in being pessimistic about the modern world and completely unappreciative of the amazing abundance we now have. I’ll just focus on food here, but you could do it for almost every category.
▪️Fresh produce used to be available only in season. In the winter it was canned or frozen. People used to send fruit for Christmas gifts, it was that much of a luxury good. Now, you can get giant, sweet berries year around in every grocery store. Corn on the cob in February. Not to mention once rare items like dragon fruit, heirloom tomatoes or baby bok choy.
▪️If you didn’t live on the coast, seafood was either not available, frozen, or extremely expensive. If you lived in the Midwest and traveled to coastal locales you would quite literally be able to eat food you had never seen. Salmon has become much more abundant and accessible. You can get fresh ahi at Walmart today. Sushi and oyster bars exist everywhere ...
