Dramatic Online Narrative; New Orleans Ordeal

Dramatic narrative of New Orleans ordeal
The story in question is being discussed widely online, and likely has been emailed all around the world. It is the tale of two visiting paramedics trapped in New Orleans during the hurricane, and it is a shocking narrative -- case upon case of the most brutal and callous official hostility and indifference.
The only problem is, I will bet the proverbial dollars to doughnuts that it is a fake.(What are we going to do when the price of doughnuts gets up to a dollar?).
We'll hear the definitive story before long, but even at first reading the story rings false, in much the same way as the CBS memos did just about exactly a year ago. Like the memos, it contains enough genuine material to convince those inclined to believe, but also enough problematical bits to give away the game. And like the memos, it is just too good to be true -- "good" in the sense of fitting the authors' political agenda (loony fringe radical socialist, in this case).
Again, there is no doubt that elements in the narrative reflect actual events. That they have been rewritten, spun, joined together, and added to, however, is equally beyond doubt.
I'm sure this is being discussed all over the place, but for now I'll point you to the thread at www.samizdata.net, where many of the points above have been argued with great specificity, yet where many commentors still attempt to defend the account by pointing to elements that are consistent with other news reports -- efforts that would be better spent tackling the inconsistencies, instead.
Posted by David on September 8, 2005 2:08 PM