Wrongs on the Right

In 10th grade American History class, 50 years ago (!), we had a discussion about determining fact vs. fiction. One of the kids said he’d heard there was a miracle carburetor. It got incredibly good mileage, but the oil companies and auto manufacturers were keeping it a secret. There was, and is, plenty of justification for doubting the integrity of oil and car companies, but my classmate’s claim reminded me of the “Paul is dead” hoax from a year earlier.

My family had visited the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA. A featured exhibit at the time, and of greatest interest to me, was Hitler’s Mercedes convertible touring car. It had mechanical fuel injection, and learning about that made the existence of a “miracle carburetor” seem very unlikely to me.

So here we are today, with people continuing to be sucked in by obvious hoaxes. But unlike Paul is dead or the claim of a miracle carburetor, or even the JFK conspiracy theories, they aren’t harmless. They are malicious lies that can hurt people very directly and personally, as this Associated Press article explains.