Speaking of studying irrational behavior, what’s up with Investor’s Business Daily? First they write an editorial with a flat-out lie:
People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.
Then, when they get called on the fact that the man lives in the UK, they make this correction:
Editor’s Note: This version corrects the original editorial which implied that physicist Stephen Hawking, a professor at the University of Cambridge, did not live in the UK.
Whaaa? As CJR says, the correction should’ve looked something like:
This version corrects the original editorial which falsely implied that physicist Stephen Hawking would be dead as a doornail if he lived in the UK and had to use the National Health. Hawking has lived in the UK his entire life, and as of press time, is still alive.
Making up Granny-killing death panels I can understand — the bill’s thousands of pages long and almost nobody’s going to read it. But did they really think they could lie about something as basic as where Hawking lives and not get caught? Maybe they didn’t think Hawking could speak up?
