Claim: A roadway in South Dakota will be temporarily closed to allow for the transport of a large piece of coal to Mount Rushmore.
FALSE
Examples: [Collected via e-mail, April 2009]
I just received an e-mail talking about a traffic jam caused by the transport of a huge piece of coal going to Mount Rushmore for the addition of our
LANE CLOSURES ON RT 80 this weekend
Over this upcoming weekend they will be transporting a
40 ton lump of hard coal fromScranton Pa toRapid City SD alongInt. Rt, 80. According to
WNEP Channel 16 this will cause massive bottlenecks this weekend in upstate PA.The coal is bound for Mount Rushmore. Early next year they will be adding our
44th president to the national monument.
True or False???
Is this true?
ALERT
I-90 will be closed this weekend across South Dakota. They are hauling a
Origins: Receiving multiple "Is this true?" inquiries about a particular bit of humor always poses something of a challenge for us: The immediate temptation is to brush off such questions by simply responding "It's just a joke," but that sort of answer is too
So what to make of this specific example? On one level it might charitably be considered a political spoof, a jab at the perceived overzealousness of some
Obama supporters who seemed ready from the moment of his election (if not sooner) to elevate him to the pantheon of America's Greatest Presidents, well before he might have done anything to merit such a honor. On a more obvious level it's nothing more than a denigrating, racist joke intended to emphasize that President Obama's racial heritage places him in a distinctly different (where "different" is often a code word for "inferior") class than any previous
Last updated: 11 April 2009