USN Vessel sinks fishing vessel, machineguns survivors

[Lonestar]

Lonestar and Bean arguing seriously was definitely telling.

Well how else were we to push it along...

[Alyeska]

That story dropped a shit ton of hints it was fake. No need to be former military. The dead baby seals at the end was just icing on the cake.

Funny article though.

[Alan Bolte]

The Haditha is an Arleigh Burke--class destroyer, designed to operate in an asymmetric environment just off the coast of a hostile or potentially-hostile territory.

It's not a modern navy joke without poking fun at the Littoral Combat Ship.

[Rogue 9]

The pirate-operated Mirages didn't give it away? Really?

[Lord of the Abyss]

Upon seeing the title my guess was that the military had mistaken a Somali fishing boat for a pirate ship and killed everyone before realizing their mistake; I was kind of close to what they came up with. I did recognize it as fake though when I checked the link (before reading the story, in fact), since someone in another forum I visit recently posted another parody story from these folks. I doubt i would have gotten past pirates with fighter jets before catching on though.

There's something funny about having gotten so used to outrage-posting that this wouldn't ring alarm bells as being too over the top to be true...

I recall reading about the military actually murdering boats full of families trying to escape from Fallujah, so I found the idea of the USN massacring the crew of a fishing vessel perfectly plausible.

[Alkaloid]

I've been linked to the duffel blog before, so was confused when Lonestar described it as a reliable and trustworthy source. That said, I though the give away for most should have been that the page linked to a story about the US marines recruiting a bear.

[Simon_Jester]

Upon seeing the title my guess was that the military had mistaken a Somali fishing boat for a pirate ship and killed everyone before realizing their mistake; I was kind of close to what they came up with. I did recognize it as fake though when I checked the link (before reading the story, in fact), since someone in another forum I visit recently posted another parody story from these folks. I doubt i would have gotten past pirates with fighter jets before catching on though.

There's something funny about having gotten so used to outrage-posting that this wouldn't ring alarm bells as being too over the top to be true...

I recall reading about the military actually murdering boats full of families trying to escape from Fallujah, so I found the idea of the USN massacring the crew of a fishing vessel perfectly plausible.

I can get thinking that after reading the thread title. But anyone who supposedly actually read the OP should have had their parody alarm bells ringing.

What would have been darkly hilarious would be to have a whole outraged HOW DARE THEY THIS WILL NOT STAND freakout from someone; because that would basically have been putting up a sign saying "hello, my name is X, I have no sense of humor and no idea what the hell I'm talking about, I speak of that which I do not know. Ignore me." No one fell for it to that extent. But I think we should be asking ourselves: given the overall tone N&P has shifted into in the past few years, would it really be surprising if someone had?

Sort of like how a lot of us (I'm not excluding myself, I did too) fell for the 'no doubt cold blooded racist murder' take on the Zimmerman case almost immediately- and then the evidence turned out to be a lot muddier than I'd expect from a cold blooded racist murder.

[Lord of the Abyss]

No one fell for it to that extent. But I think we should be asking ourselves: given the overall tone N&P has shifted into in the past few years, would it really be surprising if someone had?

Sort of like how a lot of us (I'm not excluding myself, I did too) fell for the 'no doubt cold blooded racist murder' take on the Zimmerman case almost immediately- and then the evidence turned out to be a lot muddier than I'd expect from a cold blooded racist murder.

I'm not sure if that problem is due to the tone of N&P, or just Real Life delivering on those expectations entirely too often.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Isn't there a military that seriously does or did train bears for some purpose?

Polish troops at Monte Cassino in 1944 successfully maintained an ursine ammo-carrying mascot.

[Losonti Tokash]

I believe Wojac also ate cigarettes and drank vodka.

[Pelranius]

It would have been better if the USN warship in question had been named after the USS Vicennes' (sp) commander. Wouldn't have been so obvious from the get go.

[Lonestar]

I believe Wojac also ate cigarettes and drank vodka.

So your typical Slav then.

[Simon_Jester]

I'm not sure if that problem is due to the tone of N&P, or just Real Life delivering on those expectations entirely too often.

Both?

Look, I'm not saying there's nothing to be outraged about. I'm saying that when one lets one's political how-dare-they reflex override critical thinking and common sense, and when one doesn't bother to learn anything substantial about the subjects one gets upset about... that's not healthy.

[Lancer]

So did they open up with the fifties, or with 7.62's? I want to know how effectively they were chumming the water so they could go shark-fishing!

[the atom]

Well this has been a rather interesting exercise in Poe's Law....

[Blayne]

I'm glad and relieved this is fake because this just spells Belgrade all over it; I'm still sketchy because the international news tabloid/rumour mill in China has a disturbing level of currency among urbanites.

[PeZook]

I believe Wojac also ate cigarettes and drank vodka.

It's Voytek (actually written Wojtek because Polish is a crazy language), he drank beer, and also liked wrestling and caught at least one German spy.

And what gave the article away for me was the captain firing his pistol from the bridge, although pirate-operated Mirages and "inadvertendly" machinegunning survivors did indicate something was...off

Oh, and USS Haditha. But I didn't make the connection before I read the entire article.