David Sirota: The Legend of the Spat-Upon Veteran

[AnotherMcIntosh]

42. You mentioned that you were influenced by first-person reports from DUers in good standing.

It might be worthwhile to consider the following. In contrast to your 9,987 posts, there were only two DUers that claimed to have adverse first-hand experiences with one having 148 posts and the second having 67 posts.

Express admission of not being spat upon -- Of the two, the one with 148 posts expressly admitted that he was not spat upon. He said, instead, he was "called all kinds of vile names" on one or more occasions. He said, "I was called all kinds of vile names but I wasn't spit on, maybe because the girl who looked like she was about to realized that it would be a huge mistake to do so."

No details -- The second one with 67 posts claims to have been actually spat upon. He doesn't say what happened immediately after the spitting-incident, if it occurred. No details of how much spit was delivered. No details about witnesses, such as fellow vets. And no details about any contemporaneous response. Did he spit back? Did he walk away? At a normal pace? If he was in a bar and telling the I-was-spat-upon-story, the details might have been the most interesting part.

Lack of action consistent with allegation -- Another poster responded to the single reported first-hand account of being spat upon by saying:

Consider the one poster on this thread who claims to have been literally spit upon. He says he didn't say anything for 30 years because nobody was talking about it. Does that have the ring of truth to you? Who has not heard this story repeated a thousand times over the past 40 years?

The third poster is a DUer in good standing and had 7,173 posts.