corrente

You've probably seen this one, it's all over the net. Various media outlets had to do hasty retractions after running the original story as straight news.

Whether the author of this matter had any political agenda or not is unclear (his claim that it was related to a "campaign for city supervisor" seems somewhat improvised), but it's a hell of a lesson, however inadvertently, in the credulity of those willing to believe the worse about "those evildoers" at any opportunity:

(via AP)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A video aired Saturday that purportedly showed an American being decapitated in Iraq was a hoax.

The man shown in the video, reached by The Associated Press in San Francisco, said he videotaped the staged beheading at his friend's house using fake blood.

Benjamin Vanderford, 22, said he began distributing the video on the Internet months ago in hopes of drawing attention to his one-time campaign for city supervisor. When his political aspirations waned, he thought the video would serve as social commentary.

"It was part of a stunt, but no one noticed it up until now," Vanderford said. "I did this for a couple of reasons. One is to attract attention. But two is to just make a statement on these type of videos and how easily they can be faked."

The video was titled "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Slaughters an American." Zarqawi is an al-Qaida linked militant whose group, Tawhid and Jihad, has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks across Iraq.

We here at corrente, who have seen what the farmer can do with innocent magazine covers, road signs, grubs and Karl Rove, are harder to fool.