Remember that girl, during the 2008 presidential election, who faked an attack from an ardent Obama supporter? She scratched a backward B on her cheek, as one might do if one were looking into a mirror. Of course she later had to admit to fabricating the story.
This event recalls the downfall of Morton Downey, Jr., who claimed neo-Nazi skinheads had attacked him in an airport bathroom and etched a Swastika onto his forehead (a la Inglourious Basterds but with the opposite intent). Again, he made the error of drawing a mirror image of the symbol on his forehead.
The ploy did work in that he got attention for it, but that was back in a time when we could distinguish between good attention and bad attention. (We could also distinguish between fact and opinion – life as a pundit was much harder back then…) Morton was scandalized and lost a considerable amount of social capital on the deal (and he was already overdrawn).
Morton plays himself in Predator 2, which is to say he’s loud and values sensationalism over any examination of facts or context. In short, the perfect Fox News host.
Morton knew where we were going – he just got there a bit earlier than the rest of us. Unfortunate for him that he lived in a time when having a swastika on your forehead was still considered an impediment to your career.
