16 men on a dead bloggers chest...

June 26, 2009 3:58 PM

Reports spread around the internet about an offer by a Russian company to do pirate hunting cruises off the coast of Somalia. The news garners a swarm of comments and outrage, and it looks like we have the beginnings of a snowballing controversy.

The only problem is, the "cruise" is a hoax. The website for the cruise itself has no contact information, and a little digging reveals the humor website it originally came from. So rather than a searing indictment of decadent millionaires or amoral Russians, this seems to be an indication of how incestuous and self-referential the internet is, and how poor fact-checking can be in the brave new world of blogs. Is this the true face of internet reporting?

posted by happyroach (36 comments total)

Too few people these days know the ancient runes of power and wisdom:

YHBT. HTH. HAND.
posted by GuyZero at 4:00 PM on June 26, 2009 [2 favorites]

OH MY GOD, THEY REALLY STUFF THOSE PRECIOUS KITTENS INTO THE GLASS JARS?!?!?!?!!?!?
posted by mark242 at 4:04 PM on June 26, 2009 [11 favorites]

I was just going to ask who could possibly be so butthurt as to be "outrage[d]" over this...and then I moused over the HuffPo link and had my answer.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 4:04 PM on June 26, 2009

They had me at "Mini-gun."
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 4:06 PM on June 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Me, I like to surf around the internet waiting for idiots to hoax me.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:16 PM on June 26, 2009

Is this the true face of internet reporting?

Indeed. As experienced yesterday.
posted by gman at 4:17 PM on June 26, 2009

At night the boat is fully lit and bottle rockets are shot off at intervals and loud disco music beamed shore side to attract attention.

Sounds like a party!
posted by Deflagro at 4:21 PM on June 26, 2009

YHBT. HTH. HAND.

YTMND. Word.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:21 PM on June 26, 2009

Now it will happen. Guys too dumb to think of this themselves have just been given their key to brief fame. "We'll get a ship and load up the guns and..."

This is my true face of internet reporting.
posted by pracowity at 4:22 PM on June 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Their pricing for 5.56 AP and RPGs seems suspiciously low. I also have concerns about their insurance.
posted by ryanrs at 4:26 PM on June 26, 2009 [2 favorites]

So the margin ads on the site for generic viagra and videos of girl fights, that didn't set off any alarm bells?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:29 PM on June 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure I'm clear on how horrible it is to go someplace and deliberately look vulnerable so that criminals will try to rob and kidnap you. We are talking about people who steal 500 million dollar oil ships and hold them for ransom.
posted by Megafly at 4:42 PM on June 26, 2009

even if this was real I mean.
posted by Megafly at 4:42 PM on June 26, 2009

I hear the 7PM dinner seating features ManBeef.
posted by jquinby at 4:51 PM on June 26, 2009

You are a pirate!
posted by zippy at 4:55 PM on June 26, 2009

this sounds like a clever Somalian pirate scam.
posted by errspy at 4:56 PM on June 26, 2009

I bet Jeff Goldblum could kill a bunch of pirates.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 4:59 PM on June 26, 2009

I'll be waiting for the cruise that trains me in ninja skills before we fight pirates...
posted by yeloson at 5:01 PM on June 26, 2009

I bet Jeff Goldblum could kill a bunch of pirates.

Jeff Goldblum fell off the ship and killed a pirate.

Probably.
posted by Skeptic at 5:15 PM on June 26, 2009

I bet Jeff Goldblum could kill a bunch of pirates.

My money's on Bill Murray, actually.
posted by Zonker at 5:40 PM on June 26, 2009 [2 favorites]

I bet Jeff Goldblum could kill a bunch of pirates.

No he couldn't, I'm pretty sure he died yesterday.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 5:57 PM on June 26, 2009 [3 favorites]

Why the outrage? Was it supposed to be a catch and release hunting trip?
posted by b1tr0t at 6:21 PM on June 26, 2009

Hmmm....I was all for this, hunting pirates, especially if they were Thai pirates. Tease, tease, tease!
posted by jadepearl at 7:02 PM on June 26, 2009

I'm not sure I'm clear on how horrible it is to go someplace and deliberately look vulnerable so that criminals will try to rob and kidnap you.

With the desired result being their murder? If you're "not sure" how horrible the intentional killing of human beings is, might I suggest... Actually, I don't know quite what to suggest.
posted by ODiV at 7:35 PM on June 26, 2009

OH MY GOD. I JUST FOUND OUT THAT MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD! HAVE YOU GUYS HEARD?
posted by twoleftfeet at 8:23 PM on June 26, 2009

I bet Jeff Goldblum could kill a bunch of pirates.

No he couldn't, I'm pretty sure he died yesterday.

Zombie Jeff Goldblum could kill twice as many pirates AND he'd bring dinosaurs.
posted by dejah420 at 8:43 PM on June 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

look vulnerable so that criminals will try to rob

With the desired result being their murder?


Wait, wait, I've seen this one. It was with that guy. You know, the one who was in that other movie, with that girl.
posted by CynicalKnight at 9:04 PM on June 26, 2009

...generic viagra and videos of girl fights, that didn't set off any alarm bells?

Ding ding ding! It's the weekend!
posted by rokusan at 9:17 PM on June 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

wait, so this isn't real? Arrr!
posted by sexyrobot at 9:20 PM on June 26, 2009

It's a fact: everything fun is fake.
posted by Lokisbane at 11:45 PM on June 26, 2009

I'm not sure I'm clear on how horrible it is to go someplace and deliberately look vulnerable so that criminals will try to rob and kidnap you.

I'm with you. Me and my buddies like to do this in Central Park. We go out at night wearing nice clothes and shiny stuff and we purposely walk slowwwwwly around in the darkest parts of the park looking as innocent and easy as we can. Eventually, someone always approaches us. That's when SURPRISE we pull out our big fucking guns and BLAM BLAM BLAM we blow all their heads clean off their shoulders. Works every time. Let God and Bloomberg sort 'em out. If they can.
posted by pracowity at 1:12 AM on June 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

"Wait, wait, I've seen this one. It was with that guy. You know, the one who was in that other movie, with that girl."
posted by CynicalKnight at 9:04 PM

Nah, it was Jodie Foster in The Brave One, with Terence Howard. But I thought he was a lot better in Hustle & Flow. If only he'd worked with Kevin Bacon somewhere along the line...
posted by paulsc at 2:54 AM on June 27, 2009

Nobody was good in Hustle & Flow.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:07 AM on June 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

Eh, if this was real, I'm finding it hard to be all that bothered. What's the worst case? A bunch of commerce-threatening pirates *and* assholes with guns die? That kinda sounds like a win-win to me.
posted by jamstigator at 8:03 AM on June 27, 2009

"Nobody was good in Hustle & Flow."
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

C'mon, you didn't even like the lady belting out "I Told Jesus" in the church recording session scene?
posted by HyperBlue at 9:35 AM on June 27, 2009

C'mon, you didn't even like the lady belting out "I Told Jesus" in the church recording session scene?

Yeah, you're right. That was a pleasure to watch. It's just a shame it inspired the protagonist to crank the radiance of his assholery up to a whole new level.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 11:00 AM on June 27, 2009