DARE Sues Writer Who Didn’t Understand That The Truth About It Is Bad Enough
(Ed. note: Lying is wrong, that’s why we
leave it to the prohibitionists, but lying about DARE is really stupid. The truth is bad
enough. It is interesting that it is suing the writer from whom it has no chance of
collecting anything. He can’t afford to defend himself. If it were to sue The New
Republic and Rolling Stone, the publications would defend themselves by proving
that the main points of the articles were correct. This suit, like DARE itself, is a sham,
and a shame. LOS ANGELES (AP) In a $10 million libel suit filed Monday in Los Angeles federal court, the group Drug
Abuse Resistance Education charges that Stephen Glass took "free license to invent
facts, people and scenarios, falsely describing them in detail" in two articles he
wrote about D.A.R.E. "D.A.R.E. was one victim of many," the suit said, according to today’s
Los Angeles Times. "There is absolutely no truth to Glass’ statements regarding
D.A.R.E. and Glass has admitted as such." Editors at The New Republic apologized earlier this month to readers after finding that
Glass, 25, fabricated all or part of 27 of the 41 articles he wrote for the publication. It wasn’t clear how much of the D.A.R.E. stories were made
up. One, in The New Republic, accused D.A.R.E. of covering up the program’s problems
and intimidating people into not exposing them. The New Republic said some D.A.R.E. critics were pressured to soften their opinions,
as Glass had written, but it acknowledged that Glass made up at least four people, the
suit said.
If any activists have copies these articles, they should not be given out. DARE will be
citing them for years, claiming that its critics have been proven to lie. There is plenty
of other ammunition.)
See
Is DARE A Failure? That Depends
On How You Define Its Objectives; It Is Very Successful For the Narks
and
Ninety Percent of
Massachusetts Schools Have DARE Programs; Now Effectiveness Questioned
Group Sues Writer For Sham Article
June 30, 1998
- The national police anti-drug group D.A.R.E. is suing a former staff writer at The New
Republic who admitted making up material in his articles, including at least one about
D.A.R.E.
The other D.A.R.E. piece by Glass was a free-lance assignment for Rolling Stone. The lawsuit does not name The New Republic or Rolling Stone as defendants.
Glass was fired last month after confessing he made up a story about computer hackers. The confession prompted a monthlong investigation by The New Republic. Glass cooperated with the investigation and apologized in letters to Charles Lane, the magazine’s editor, and Martin Peretz, the owner and editor in chief.