Al Gore Never Said "I invented the Internet." Never. Said. It. (by James Boyce at HuffPost)

[marmar]

James Boyce


05.21.2007
Al Gore Never Said "I invented the Internet." Never. Said. It.

Tomorrow, Al Gore's new book, "The Assault On Reason" will be released. In it, the former Vice President asks some serious questions about where we are as a country, how we got here, and how we might get back on track - good timing, considering the recent polls indicate that the overwhelming majority of Americans think we are headed the wrong way.


You might think this is something any American of either party would want to talk about. You would be sadly mistaken.

Because instead of addressing the issues Gore raises, the right is already focusing on running old lies and half-truths run up the wing nut flagpole. Taylor Marsh did a great job debunking one of them, but another big one still lingers.

Mention Al Gore to any right wing spokesperson and on cue, they spit out:

The guy who claimed he invented the Internet!

They snicker, they chuckle, they high five themselves into happiness, but there's one little problem.

Al Gore never said that. Seriously.

You wouldn't know by all the news links and articles and quotes and our beloved President Bush even ran a tv commercial in 2000 claiming that Gore said it so let me repeat.

Al Gore never said that.

Here's the truth.

In March 1999, Vice President Al Gore was doing an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. In the course of that interview, he said:

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

And guess what? It's true.

Let's quite Vincent Cerf, a man often called The Father of the Internet,

"The Internet would not be where it is in the United States without the strong support given to it and related research areas by the Vice President in his current role and in his earlier role as Senator." ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-boyce/al-gore-never-said-i-inv_b_48946.html

[papau]

1. It was the Gore Bill that financed the transition of Darpa-net into the internet -and

prior research was pushed by Gore when the rest of Congress did not know what he was talking about.

[Atman]

2. You have to understand, wing-nuts don't like "nuance."

And while I hardly think there is much nuance needed to understand what Gore said, wing-nuts are very literal people. That is why they're so easy to get to march in lock-step behind any stupid comment one of their fearless leaders makes.

During a brief, dark period posting on an extremist wing-nut board, this happened to me all the time. Unless you make sure your statements can be understood fully and without explanation by a second grader, they'll conflate it to fit what they want it to mean. I recall one such occasion on which I commented that a particularly uptight poster, perpetually hung up on Clinton's penis and anything sexual, just needed "to have someone bend her over the sofa" to relieve some of her tension. Immediately and forevermore it became that I personally wanted to rape said poster, and soon became simply that I was an advocate for rape. Never mind the context of the remark or even the word "someone" as opposed to "me," it never mattered. And once they started bouncing it around their echo chamber, every one of them was happy to jump on board, and each saw the "rape" angle clear as day. They'd even quote my words to try to "prove" that I said it, even though the words said no such thing. Just as they do with the Al Gore internet remark, they'd simply rely on calling me the guy who advocates rape anytime an argument got to heated for them.

Remember, these are generally not the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree. Speak to them as if you're talking to a seven year old and you'll do much better. Maybe. Sometimes.

.

[Clark2008]

7. My son was 7 years old until a few days ago and he understood

much more diverse and complicated language than many of these nutjobs do.

I think we should talk to them like they have learning disorders because, clearly, they do. They don't want to learn the truth and that's a disorder.

[Atman]

9. EXACTLY as I stated, they're now posting definitions of "create."

As if the entire statement by Gore centered on the word "create," completely ignoring the words "initiative" or even the overall context of his statement. These guys are as predictable as a Steven Segal movie. But Segal is much, much smarter.

.

[sce56]

13. Herr Goebbels would be proud! When dealing with NAZI'S expect them to twist it to their twisted Idea

Got Fascism Yet?


http://www.georgewalkerbush.net/bush-nazilinkconfirmed.htm



Fascism Accomplished!

[NewJeffCT]

3. Franken discussed this in his "Lying Liars" book

a few years back when he debunked a bunch of the RW BS about Gore.

[hfojvt]

4. this is now accepted script

Somerby on Thursday or Friday, said that apparently pundits in the M$M are now allowed to say the truth - that Gore never said he invented the internet. But, they do not go 1/10th of the way to debunking all the other lies told about Gore, AND, as Somerby repeatedly points out, some of those lies and smears were done by Arianna. See www.dailyhowler.com

[Kagemusha]

8. I agree with you and the person pointing out the "nuance" thing above.

I think reporters convince themselves that Americans in general don't like nuance. Oh, some Americans, sure. Not all though.

[hfojvt]

5. here's a summary

"Today, the Standard Story has changed a bit—you’re permitted to know that Gore never said it. What you still can never be told: It was the mainstream press corps which fed you this tale—and sent George Bush to the White House. Somehow, that part keeps slipping their minds as they tell you their new, improved tale: Al Gore never said he invented the Net. We’re not sure how that gained traction."

Something that probably is not mentioned in the Huffpo piece. Who said he invented the internet? Where did people ever get that idea? Perhaps from reading Arianna:

"Meanwhile, do these invented stories ever go away? We love you, Arianna, and we've been showing off the autographed book you kindly gave us in Manchester. ("Keep howling," you penned inside. So we will.) It's in friendship we quote from your current column describing Gore's "chronic deception:"

HUFFINGTON: He invented the Internet, discovered Love Canal, and was the inspiration for "Love Story." He lives on a farm, and was always "pro-choice"...

And so on, and so forth. So it now goes when the press corps decides to buy made-up stories. "

http://www.dailyhowler.com/h021700_1.shtml

and another set of examples of Arianna trashing Gore:

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh052306.shtml

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. That book sounds like a political manifesto to me.

The kind you release in preparation of a run for office, one might say.

[Jim Lane]

10. Snopes has a thorough debunking of the RW "invented the Internet" BS about Gore

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp

I always thought this point, as stated by Snopes, was particularly telling:

Gore never used the word "invent," and the words "create" and "invent" have distinctly different meanings — the former is used in the sense of "to bring about" or "to bring into existence" while the latter is generally used to signify the first instance of someone's thinking up or implementing an idea. (To those who say the words "create" and "invent" mean exactly the same thing, we have to ask why, then, the media overwhelmingly and consistently cited Gore as having claimed he "invented" the Internet, even though he never used that word, and transcripts of what he actually said were readily available.)

[bunkerbuster1]

11. "we have to ask why, then, the media overwhelmingly and consistently cited Gore..."

Indeed, we do.

This particular episode was an appallingly irresponsible enabling of fascism, and I hope that more people continue to tell the truth about it.

[cascadiance]

12. But we should remind the corporatists that Pacific Bell DID say they invented the internet!

I remember their ads here in California pounding us on that message about that time day after day!